


Love is a Burning Thing and It Makes a Fiery Ring

by deanshot



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Bottom Jensen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 14:14:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11419704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deanshot/pseuds/deanshot
Summary: Fire, one of nature’s purest forms consumes as it goes, caressing the earth in its fiery grip, like a serpents tongue it flickers and wraps its coils around living things before turning them black as life departs. Being part of the Glenveagh Fire search and rescue team was a dream job for Jared. But being part of a community that cared for each other and had no problem with Jared loving another man who happened to be the most gorgeous green eyed man he had ever met but also understood Jared’s passion for his job. Everything was going well until on a seemingly normal sunny day, one fights to stay alive while the other has to wait at his boyfriend’s base of operations. Each one living through their darkest day not knowing if they’ll see each other again.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The art featured in this story is by bflyw, who is so amazingly talented, please leave her a comment by clicking the link. Thank you to my artist [Check out her art here](http://bflyw.livejournal.com/716492.html/)
> 
> Also thank you to the various people who helped me get this story to where it is today, without each one of you, this would never have been the readable version it is.
> 
> The name Muireann that features in this story is pronounced Mur in

Prologue

Jared

Being part of the local county fire department and rescue service had always been Jared’s dream. When he was younger, he had told his momma that he was going help put out fires, and make sure no fires were ever started deliberately. His momma told him that he could have any job he wanted, but she would always worry about him, what mother wouldn’t? But her worry had an extra cause: his dad had been killed on the job, in a huge apartment fire. The residents had all been accounted for, except one, but his dad had died from wounds he sustained when the floor collapsed beneath his feet while he was searching for the missing resident. After an investigation into what started the fire, they’d found that the missing resident had never actually existed, and that the fire had been started deliberately with the intention of killing members of the fire service. Jared had just turned ten years old at the time, but it only made him more determined to become part of the fire service, to honour his dad. 

Jared worked his butt off all through middle and high school, and in his senior year sent in his application to the Glenveagh College of Applied Arts and Technology for the Pre-Service Firefighter Education and Training Program. He was thrilled when he got accepted and passed his Grade 12 in both English and Advanced Mathematics. The guidance counsellor tried to get him to change his mind, telling him that it was usually a short, high-risk career, with physical demands most found hard to sustain into middle age, and with comparatively low income. Jared had simply looked at her, and she didn’t say anything else as she was in complete and utter shock at the look of displeasure on the face of the young high school student sitting across from her desk. His very first day entering the front courtyard of the fire service training academy is when he met the love of his life, Jensen Ackles. 

He can still picture the day in his mind, walking across the freshly cut grass of the campus and spotting a very delectable looking guy still wearing his regular clothes--and boy, did the outfit he had on emphasise all his best assets. From the top curve of his spine to the nice denim covered ass, and his bow legs, which stood out even more in the tight jeans he was wearing. Before Jared could introduce himself, he tripped on an uneven piece of ground and face planted in what could only be described as an undignified heap right in front of the guy he wanted to speak to. 

Jared refused to lift his head. He was so embarrassed that it spread across his face in a rosy blush. But when the object of his desires leant down and stuck out his hand in an offer to help him, Jared took it because he didn’t want to appear ungrateful, which turned out to be one of the best decisions he ever made. Finding out that Jensen wasn’t actually attending the training college was just a slight bummer, but Jared learned that the friends he made that same day were also close friends of Jensen, who worked as a landscaper.  
Slowly building up a strong friendship before it changed and turned to love was a surprise for both of them but it was the greatest decision they ever made. Getting a job on Morgan’s unit was a dream come true for Jared. So was having Jensen move in with him. They found the perfect house, and Jensen’s job came in handy since there was a huge garden for him to work in and arrange just the way he wanted it. The house itself, a one-story ranch style house with a wrap-around veranda, had an extra deck at the back of the house where they had their barbecues in the summer and sometimes even in the early autumn, when the leaves on the trees surrounding their house just began to change colour from the vibrant green to orange, red and gold. 

The onshore breeze that swirled up the valley to where their house was located, nice and secluded, kept the place cool in the summer. The picturesque town of Glenveagh, situated just on the outskirts of Jasper National Park, was so welcoming to them that it was another deciding factor to them finally picking the location and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Jared

Heading off at his usual time to make the long drive to his job, travelling along the coastal road, Jared stays vigilant as it’s still slightly dark out. The sun is just breaking over the horizon, casting eerie streaks of light along the surface of the water in the bay below. A reddish and orange hue catches the corner of his eye as he rounds the next serious curved bend. It’s not the sun’s reflection, but a fire. It looks like it’s beginning to spread quite quickly, and the onshore breeze isn’t helping matters. Picking up his radio mike, he connects to base to report what he’s seeing. His eyes leave the fire for a split second, but that’s all it takes. The fire rapidly spreads up the valley towards him, the breeze from the ocean increasing so quickly that the smoke as it crests the hill slowly blocks out the burgeoning sunrise. 

“Is anyone receiving me? This is Jared, over,” he radios in and breathes a sigh of relief when his call is returned.

“Morgan speaking, what’s your status?” their Unit Chief Commander replies.

“Chief, I’m travelling along the north shore highway, we have a forest fire that is growing rapidly, and it has been gaining momentum due to an onshore breeze that’s blowing in pretty strong now, over.”

“Roger that, can you see from your vantage point if there are houses in the vicinity nearest the fire? Over.”

“My visibility is compromised by the thickening smoke. I am almost to the turn-off to get to base and even now I can feel the heat in the air. I will try to, oh shit -” The rest of Jared’s reply is cut off but through the radio, Morgan can distinctively hear the screeching of tyres coming through the radio and then silence, but protocol kicks in and he responds even though he knows there’ll be no reply.

Jared swerves his truck quickly to avoid hitting the falling branch which has separated from the main body of the tree due to previous fires and recent damage. The smell of burning timber permeating the air is rather intense, and Jared tries desperately not to breathe it in too much. He makes sure to shut off his air vents while keeping an eye on the road ahead of him when something hits the back of his truck, sending his vehicle careening off course. Jared frantically tries to correct his road position, but his truck loses traction as one of its tyres hits the verge of the road and his vehicle flips over, thankfully onto the still non-burning side of the road, but that doesn’t mean he’s safe.

He holds on inside his truck as it rolls over continuously for what feels like years but in reality lasts just a few minutes. The continuous momentum of the rolling makes his head feel like it’s on a rollercoaster ride, his vision blurring in and out over the sheer ferocity of the tumbling vehicle as it summersaults down the embankment before coming to a shuddering stop. By some miracle he still seems okay, but he’s upside down, which is not a good predicament to be in, so he needs to get out and take stock of what he can salvage from his truck before he has to get ahead of the encroaching fire. 

He puts his left arm out to brace himself, but screams loudly as an intense burning pain shoots up from his wrist when he unclicks his seatbelt. He continues with the task of getting out, even though the pain is excruciating as he does so, but he focuses all his will on unclicking the seatbelt. He falls slower but still lands with a thud as gravity takes hold of his tall body. He’s really hoping that he can stay that way. Crawling out through the busted passenger side window, he takes stock of his surroundings and can see the fire to the east of his position, and from the way things look, he won’t have very long to get any supplies he’ll need and get the hell out of there. 

Going around to the back of his overturned truck, he kicks in the back window to get to the boot and pulls out the spare clothing in his gear bag. He usually brings clothes with him most nights, and thank God he does because he will need them later. He also pulls out a big metal box and takes out some matches, energy bars, and four bottles of water, a map, and a compass. He also grabs his portable radio, which he hopes he can use to tell his colleagues exactly where he’s planning to go or if he gets into trouble trying to get back to base. He spots a flashlight buried in the trunk, he reaches in and grabs it, flicks it on and smiles as it works. He wraps up the flashlight and radio in some clothing before putting them aside for now. 

He checks his cell phone next, and miraculously it didn’t break when his truck was rolling, but the reception appears to be sporadic at best on this part of the road from the look of the signal bar. Doing a quick check of his own body to make sure he has no other major injuries from the crash, he puts all his assembled items into his backpack with his clothes, apart from a triangular bandage, and gets it onto his back, carefully manoeuvring the left strap over his sore wrist. Manufacturing a sling with one hand is a hard task, but he manages it, grimacing as twinges of pain shoot up along his left arm. But he knows he needs to temporarily ignore it, and heads off in the direction of the fire department base. He just hopes that his route won’t be too blocked off by the encroaching fire that might be soon licking at his heels. 

Back at base

“Jared come in, are you receiving me, over? Fuck it.” All Morgan can hear is static coming through the short wave radio. 

“Get me Murray and Harris in here now,” Morgan bellows to the nearest person which happens to be Chris, and it’s awfully painful when it’s right beside your ear, but he follows the Chief’s orders immediately and the two in question come running in. 

“Chief,” says Murray and Harris at the same time. 

“Chad, Danneel, I need the both of you to go to Jared’s house and get Jensen here, pronto. Jared’s in trouble and I don’t know how badly yet. We also have a fire near where I last heard from Jared. So we have two situations that need to be attended to simultaneously. Ask the sheriff if he can spare a deputy to go with you to Jensen and Jared’s house.”

“Sure Chief, what do we tell him?” inquires Harris.

Morgan looks at her for a second before replying. “Danni, he’ll know straight away something is up, both of you need to be prepared to calm him down and let him know that everything is being done to get Jared out of there alive and well. I know Jensen will panic the minute he sees the deputy, and that’s why I’m sending the two of you.”  
He gives them a look as if to ask why they’re still standing there, and is relieved when they head out. Turning to the room and looking at his firefighters, already in their gear. Chris, Steve, Jason, Kim, Briana, Matt, Rob, and Richard being his most senior lieutenants of varying degrees of all his team. He also called in junior fire fighters, Osric, Aldis, and Gil in to help tackle the fire. 

He assigns them all to locations in the forest, but he sends Chris, Steve, Kim and Briana in search of Jared - with Buckmaster’s medical training she might be needed - telling them to head out from their base, and indicates on the map where Jared’s last known coordinates were. He’s staying put at the base for now because he has a feeling that Jared will try to head here if he’s not hurt or caught out by the fire. 

Heading back to his office, he pulls out the largest map he can find of the area, bringing it back out to the main room, and pins it to the command board. He hears a clink and turns around to see their front receptionist, Felicia, putting down a cup of steaming hot coffee and holding another one in her other hand. He smiles gratefully and brings the mug to his lips and takes a sip. Looking at the map, he maps out the starting point of the fire from what Jared had told him over the radio, and wonders if it was started deliberately or not. He’s hoping for the second one because, if this was deliberate, they have an arsonist on their hands and those individuals are not good. 

Jensen

Lying underneath his duvet, Jensen snuggles closer against the slight chill of the room since Jared left for work just an hour and half ago. Although his shift doesn’t start for another two hours, Jensen knows how long the journey usually takes to get there. His ears are still listening to the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks at the end of the cliff, even though he’s very tired. The sea is not right outside their window, but the sound echoes and bounces off the limestone cliff face. The noise slowly starts to make his eyes droop, and before long he succumbs to the sleep that’s been eluding him since he got back under the covers after he saw Jared off.

Jensen doesn’t know how long he sleeps for, but his sleep is interrupted by a persistent banging noise in the distance. It pulls him from his sleep and Jensen listens more closely to see if it happens again, and sure enough it does. He drags his body out of bed, slowly but efficiently puts on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, not realising that it’s one of Jared’s. He is surprised to see a member of the local police department and two other people at his front door. 

He opens the door slowly and meets the sombre faces of Jared’s colleagues, Chad and Danneel. They have accompanied the deputy, and deep inside he knows instantly that something’s wrong. Jensen staggers back against the wall, and he can’t bear to look at the three people in front of him because deep inside he’s fearing the worst. His heart thuds rapidly against his chest as he tries to take deep relaxing breaths, but he knows he’s failing miserably.

“Jensen, come on man, breathe,” says Chad as he moves further into his friend’s house. He watches closely as Jensen tries to take a breath. He knows if he doesn’t calm Jensen down that he’ll have to call for an ambulance. Fortunately he sees Jensen slowly breathing better, and relaxing enough that they can fill him in on the recent events.  
As his friend Chad slowly gets him to control his breathing, Jensen is once again able to look at his friends. He tries to tell himself that Jared is okay, and that they are only here to tell him that he’ll be late coming back this evening, but in the pit of his stomach he knows that isn’t the case. He knew it the minute he opened the door. But one can always have hope.

“Just tell me Chad, please,” pleads Jensen as he stares at his friend.

“Chief Morgan sent us here because he wants you to hear it from us first,” Chad replies as Danneel nods her head in agreement. “Roughly ten minutes ago Jared called in to say that he had spotted a fire in the valley as he was making his way to the base. Before he was able to tell Jeff anymore, he was cut off.” They both notice Jensen looking back and forth between them as if his head is attached to a string.

“Just before Jared was cut off, Jeff heard him shout out “oh shit” and then heard the screeching of tyres, and before you say anything we know that sounds bad. But this is Jared we’re talking about, and we know he’s one of the best firefighters we have, so we need you to think positively, okay?” finishes Chad as he fills Jensen in on the rest of what he knows.

“You want me to think positively Chad, really, after saying all that fucking shit you rattled off just now. I mean from what you just said, you don’t know if he’s hurt or dead. He can’t be dead, Chad, I won’t survive it, if he is,” yells Jensen as tears cascade down along his freckled cheeks, dropping off his chin and hitting his t-shirt. 

“Jensen, please, I know you’re upset and you have every right to be but we all need to think positive right now,” Danneel pleads. “It’s what Jared would want us all to do, and you know that. He’s the embodiment of thinking positively.” Danneel looks at Chad to make sure he’s on the same page as her, and sighs in relief when she notices him agreeing with her.

Jensen looks at the two of them while trying to gather his thoughts. He knows what Danneel is telling him is true but he’s so scared, his mind is a jumble of horrifying scenarios and he just wants Jared here with him, but he needs to get his head in the game and try to focus. Taking a deep breath, he looks at his friends and nods in agreement.

“So what happens now, do I stay here or what?” asks Jensen.

“No, Jeff wants you to come back with us to base, because at least then when we locate Jared we can tell him that you’re alright. We know full well that he’ll ask about you the minute we see him,” replies Chad.

Even though he shouldn’t find that funny, Jensen can’t help but snort and roll his eyes because that’s exactly what Jared would do. He always puts the safety of others before himself ‒ it’s what made him an excellent firefighter ‒ but thankfully Jared knew when it was too dangerous to go into something without thinking things through first. Jensen hoped that what was happening to Jared right now was one of those times. 

“Let me get dressed properly and grab a few items and then we can head out, is that okay with all of you?” inquires Jensen as he looks at each of them equally when he sees them nod in agreement. He turns around and heads for his bedroom, taking each step with care as to not let on how emotional he’s still feeling right at this very moment. 

As soon as he enters his bedroom, Jensen lets fresh tears fall down his face, not once using his hand to wipe them away before taking a deep breath as he heads for his chest of drawers. He begins to pull out a grey Henley, socks, and boxers and places them on the bed before heading to his wardrobe to get out a pair of worn but comfy jeans, and places them on the bed as well. He heads to the bathroom next to freshen up, brushes his teeth and shaves. Each task seems so hard to complete but he does because he knows that he needs to get to Jared’s place of work. After leaving the bathroom, he walks back to their bed and starts putting on each item even though it feels so tiring. He continues and pulls on his boots last before grabbing his cell phone off the bedside locker. 

Heading back out to Chad and Danneel with a sense of renewed hope, he goes to the coat hanger and puts on his leather jacket before spinning around and grabbing his keys off the tray by the front door and turning around to indicate that he’s ready to go. Jensen lets the others go before him as he needs to lock up the house, he’ll be damned if he lets someone just walk in and take their stuff.

Jensen gets into Chad’s truck across from Chad with Danneel opting to sit in the backseat, they follow the deputy’s cruiser out the drive and head off in the direction of the fire service base. Once they hit the main road, Jensen can see the towering column of smoke rising in the distance. He knows from the sheer size and volume of smoke that this forest fire is big, and will destroy a lot of vegetation and maybe even properties depending on the wind’s direction and speed. 

Previous forest fires in their area have burnt out acres of forest but it always grew back, usually more luscious than before, but that was nature’s way of curing the earth. Keeping a close eye on the smoke, Jensen sits back in his seat and listens in to the radio. He hears the firefighters from Jared’s base call in with their locations and how the fire was looking. Hearing their accounts of current events are not helping Jensen’s current outlook on what Jared was possibly going through right at this moment. Worry is etched deep inside Jensen, his stomach is attempting somersaults and he’s hoping that he won’t need Chad to pull over before they get to the base. He just hopes that his worrying doesn’t escalate to trepidation or heartbreak.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Jared

Jared finds that moving through the non-burning forest is proving to be very difficult, but still he makes his legs move in a forward direction, all the while trying not to hit his sore arm off anything as he passes by low-lying branches and fallen logs. But sometimes even that is proving inevitable, and he grimaces in pain or shouts out an obscenity or two. He tries to take deep controlled breaths to calm down so the shooting pain in his left arm will dissipate and gradually ease. 

He knows he needs to keep positive and keep heading away from the fire that’s causing major damage behind him. He checks every once in a while to see how far ahead of the fire he is. He shouts in alarm when he sees that even though it won’t catch him right now; the fire is still not that far away. Pushing himself onwards, he quickens his pace and keeps going forward, each step more determined than the other. He needs to put a bigger distance between him and the fire raging on south of his position, but he still feels that with every step forward he takes the fire takes six steps compared to his one. 

Jared continues to head north in the direction of the base, always looking ahead and thinking about seeing Jensen and their friends again. He can feel the heat in the surrounding air above his head. Nevertheless he keeps moving onwards, and each step now is becoming increasingly difficult. The pain in his arm has intensified so much that trying to ignore it just isn’t working for him anymore. 

He walks for ages, trying to keep a big enough distance between him and the raging inferno that seems to be testing him but he knows that isn’t true, it just feels that way. He doesn’t know how long he can continue on as his body feels so physically drained. Maybe he was hurt more when his truck flipped over than he originally thought, but he can’t dwell on that now, so he maintains his forward motion and tries his very best to get out of here alive and back into the arms of the person he loves so much.  
Even though he is staying focused on the distance between him and the fire, it was catching up with him and gaining ground faster than Jared could outwalk it. He must have missed a change in the breeze or else he would have noticed sooner. He needs to think fast if he is getting out of this alive, looking around the area he’s currently in to see if he can spot some sort of water source. A deep enough one so that he can submerge himself long enough for the fire to pass over. Then he can get back out and continue on with his plan of making it to safety. Not seeing anything close by, Jared continues to walk further, constantly watching for a body of water, but with the smoke getting thicker around him, his visibility is being dampened by the increasing smoke. Now would be the perfect time to find something, but he just can’t seem to make out any water source so far.

Jared walks as briskly as he can, his mind currently running through different areas where he could find shelter, or if he needs to change his course of direction slightly to avoid the fire cutting him off. He doesn’t spot the fallen tree branch in time, and hits it with his right foot bang on, sending his body careening down over an embankment, his body tumbling over small rocks and fallen twigs. He can feel his body getting battered and bruised, his left arm falls out of its sling and smashes against a boulder, and he screams out as the pain rattles around his nerve endings. Now Jared knows his arm is even more damaged, and he fears that he’s broken a bone further up his arm between his elbow and his shoulder. He can’t look at it right now because he’s still tumbling down the small hillside until he comes to a grinding halt as he smacks into a thicker branch which thankfully does not finish him off. 

Jared lies there very still, though both his body and head feel like he’s still moving. So he doesn’t move as he feels slightly dizzy and nauseated. Taking small breaths to ease the feeling of wanting to throw up, he looks around to see if can spot anything in his vicinity. He smiles when he spots a cave a little bit away, if he’s lucky and he’s not completely broken he just might be able to reach it. The vegetation around is still green, giving him some hope that the fire won’t reach the cave and he could hopefully be safe for a while.  
Once the sensation of wanting to throw up his stomach contents dissipates, Jared slowly starts moving his body into a sitting position, using his right arm for leverage to get him to his knees, and from there to his feet. He staggers slightly before gaining his equilibrium, and looks around slowly to see if he can spot his backpack anywhere, and almost cries with relief when he spots it not too far from where he finally stopped. 

Taking his time, Jared walks over to the bag, and notices no pain in his legs or signs of limping, which is a relief right about now. He has enough to worry about because he knew his wrist was the only broken bone earlier. But from looking at it now he knows, his arm is broken in multiple places between his shoulder and elbow, and his left wrist must be more damaged because it’s flopping around uselessly. 

Jared reaches down carefully with his right hand and flips his backpack around, and is delighted to find that it’s intact even after the pummelling it got when it was torn from his shoulders. Opening it is proving quite tricky with one hand, but Jared manages it by sheer determination alone. He gets it open to look inside and sees that nothing is wet or damaged as far as he can tell, but he needs to dig deeper to get to his phone and feels despondent when he finds the screen has a huge crack.  
Looking around more inside the pack, he finds the short wave radio and sighs with joy as it appears to be okay; turning it on he checks the battery power and it’s full. That’s at least one positive outcome from his fall off the ridge. He quickly locates the flashlight next and checks to see if it works first before he grins widely when he sees that it’s intact and working, thank God for small mercies. He turns off the radio again to preserve the battery and decides that he’ll turn it back on again later where he gets a shelter set up and running for himself in the cave. 

Walking slowly, Jared meanders along the dry riverbed as he makes his way to the cave opening, and once he gets within a reasonable distance, he stops for a few moments to take a breath. The pain in his left arm is throbbing, and he knows that this is not good and trying to support it later is going to be a bitch. Jared starts to move again and finishes the rest of the journey to the cave, and is pleased to find it has a big enough opening that he can walk in and not have to crawl. He moves closer but with caution, as it could be the home of a bear or a mountain lion. He listens closely to see if he can hear any animal sounds and when he doesn’t, he sighs and moves inside further. He stops for a few moments, puts his backpack on the ground to get the flashlight out, turning it on, closing the pack next and stands back up, lifting the pack over his shoulders once more. 

Breaching the entrance, Jared moves cautiously inside, still aware that the quietness from before could mean a hibernating animal or just simply one that sleeps during the day. So he points the light directly into the cave and moves gradually, taking in the cave walls and the floor. He notices that it’s clean and there is no animal smell wafting around the area, and sighs deeply in relief. He takes off his backpack and places it on the ground beside him. He turns around in a full circle and is happy to notice that the place is dry, which means he should be able to make a small controlled fire by the opening so he can warm the cave and ward off any animals that might be still in the vicinity. Opening his pack carefully, he pulls out all the rations he packed and places them on the ground beside his legs, opens up a bottle of water and takes a drink, just a small one. He knows he needs to preserve as much of the water as he can because he doesn’t know how long a rescue will take. He opens one of his bars and takes a bite, he’ll need the energy to get a fire going. 

Trying to locate the box of matches takes a bit longer than he likes, but he finds them buried at the end of the pack; the tumbling down the hill must have shifted stuff around. Looking around the cave to see if he can spot dry material to start a fire is the first thing he needs to do, so he places the matches on top of the pack before he stands up. Grabbing the flashlight he starts moving around just inside the cave and the area outside the mouth of the cave, and is really pleased when he spots small kindling and dry moss. It’s only when he tries to gather them up does he realise the mistake he made ‒ he can’t lift any of them with only one hand. 

So he turns around and goes back to his pack, lifting off the matches and placing them on top of his dry clothes before carrying the pack back outside and placing the dry kindling, moss and some larger sticks in the bag, then heaves it onto his right shoulder and carries it back inside. He puts the pack back down onto the ground and kneels beside it, carefully lifting out the larger sticks, then the dry moss followed by the small kindling. He arranges the pieces neatly, making sure that air can get in under the dry moss, leans over to the box of matches and grabs it. 

Sliding the box open he pulls one out, strikes it off the strip on the side and it lights straight away. Leaning over the fire, he watches with bated breath to see if it catches, and he cries with relief when the moss ignites and takes hold of the kindling. Jared gently places a few of the bigger sticks on top and smiles with relief as the fire takes an even stronger hold.

Jared watches the flames dance for a few minutes and lets the fire soak in and heat up his weary, battered and bruised body before he gets up with his pack and heads back outside to gather up more dry wood. He glances back every now and then to make certain the fire is still going, but he’s determined to fill the pack right up so he won’t need to come back out later when it gets dark. He fills the pack as far as it can go, and tries to lift it with his right arm and when he succeeds, he pulls it up, hauls it over his right shoulder, turns around and heads back to the mouth of the cave. Upon entering, Jared puts the pack down and leans it against the wall a bit away from the fire to stop any sparks from landing on his sticks, but not too far as to be out of reach. 

He lifts out four of the thicker ones and heads back over to the warmth of the fire. Leaning down, he puts two of them right onto the fire and puts the other two aside until later. It sparks for a few moments before settling, the ambient feeling the fire gives him warms him up from the inside out. Jared stares ahead and starts thinking of how much he misses Jensen, the feel of him in his arms, his kisses, just everything about him. 

Life has a way of picking you up and tossing you around before landing you back on your feet. He doesn’t even realise he’s falling into a light sleep until he lurches sideways and has to put out his hand, and screams so loudly when his brain comprehends it’s his left hand he’s used, and he can hear some of the wild animals scatter in the distance after being startled by the sheer volume of his scream. 

Jared pulls his left arm to his body and cradles it to his chest, weeping at the intense pain now traversing up his arm and radiating out along his pain receptors until his whole body shakes with it. Jared knows he needs to regulate his breathing, but it just hurts so much. He doesn’t know how long he cries, but he slowly manages to calm enough that his breathing starts to slow down by itself. He lifts his head up just in time to see that the fire needs more wood, and he’s glad of the distraction because he fucking needs it now. He gets up warily, his mind still on the pain he can still feel shooting up his left arm, but he keeps going nonetheless and moves to stand and is proud of himself when he does so. He lifts up one stick and puts it one the fire before picking up the second one and doing the same. He moves back over to his pack and takes out two thicker pieces of firewood and brings them back with him. 

He places them off to the side and decides to take another bite of his bar, relishing the chewy sustenance, and then he takes a drink of water. Even though the water is now lukewarm, it’s still refreshing as it goes down his dry throat. Jared rubs his face on his t-shirt before he leans down on his side and uses his dry gear to rest his body on, he just needs a few more minutes to rest and he should be back to his old self. He makes himself comfortable; he tries to make sure his left arm is supported as much as he can get it anyway and closes his eyes and hopes that when he opens them again, his colleagues will have found him.

Search & Rescue Team

Chris, Steve, Kim and Briana locate Jared’s last known coordinates that Morgan had supplied them with an hour ago. Looking around they can already see that the fire has jumped the road and is already after burning the area that appears to be Jared’s direction of escape, but it also seems to have slowed down and maybe almost out. All four of them look at each other, apprehension and concern is clearly etched on all of their faces as they take in their surroundings. 

Getting out of their vehicle appears safe to do for now, so almost simultaneously they exit the vehicle and gather at the back of the truck. Chris pulls out a map to use with potential hiding places or safe shelters that Jared might have had to use. After a quick discussion between the four of them, they start to check out the area, each one taking a different point on the compass and spanning out. It isn’t long before Kim calls out telling the others to get to her quick. 

Chris, Steve and Briana sprint over to her location and find her down an embankment at the side of the road, and all three of them see why she called out to them. Jared’s truck is on its roof with hardly any burn damage, which means that the fire didn’t jump the road here but further up along the road, or maybe Jared had to swerve to avoid something.  
Chris and Steve turn around and head back up to the road to investigate some more, and sure enough they find two fallen branches of different sizes, the bigger one more than enough to cause Jared to react the way he did and for his truck to be that wrecked. Heading back to their teammates, Chris looks at Briana for a few moments before asking her a tough question.

“Briana, do you think Jared will be seriously hurt, considering the damage to his truck?”

“I don’t really know from what I can see, but I do know that he did not get cut because there is no blood anywhere. But I can’t rule out possible bone fractures or even a concussion,” answers Briana honestly. “Hopefully he will only have the first one, because that will be easier for Jared to cope with. Having a concussion can be more serious if he bangs his head again later on, or if he gets into difficulty.”

Steve and Kim nod their heads in agreement before looking to Chris for instructions. 

“Okay then, let’s get our provisions together, come up with the best route to take, find Jared and bring him back to Jensen,” responds Chris while looking at his friends.  
The four of them head back up to their own truck and open the storage compartment to get their equipment and safety gear. Even though the fire seems to have burnt through some of this area, they can’t be certain of what they’ll face later on, so they get their emergency small oxygen tanks from the storage compartment as well, plus a spare one since their friend Jared might need it when they find him later. Chris heads to the driver’s seat and picks up his walkie-talkie plus spare batteries so he can contact Jeff and keep him posted on where they’re heading, and to let him know when they find Jared, because he’ll have to leave his own truck here and get someone from base to pick it up later.  
Before they leave their current location, he takes out his radio he had just stored away, and turns it on and waits for a signal to come through before starting to talk. 

“Chris to base, come in over.”

“Base to Chris, over.”

“Just letting you know that we are going to start our search for Jared from where we found his vehicle. I’m sending you the coordinates through text message. If possible, could you send someone out to take our vehicle back to base, over? Chad should know where I keep a spare set of keys at the base.”

“Roger that, received location. I have Chad and Danneel arriving shortly. I’ll send them to your location when they get here and one can drive your truck back, over,” as Jeff hears Jensen’s voice from his office. At least he knows Jensen is safe; now he just needs to find Jared and for all his firefighters to get back here safely. 

“Okay Jeff, roger that. We will take a portable radio with us to keep you updated. Heading out now, over.”

“Roger that, be safe.”

Once Chris signs off, he stores the radio safely back into his back pack in an outer pocket so it will be easy to grab if he needs it quickly, before he turns back to his crew and signals that it’s time to start the search for their friend. The four of them start on their chosen course and head in the direction of the base because that’s where Jared was heading before the accident took place and he had to leave his vehicle, so they automatically assume that he would continue on foot to find the base. Looking down Chris spots a set of footprints on the ground leading away from the over-turned truck, and he knows now that they were right in their earlier assumption of Jared’s planned route.

Back at Base

Jeff has just signed off when Chad and Danneel walk into his office with Jensen following closely behind them. He looks up and can see the worry and fear in Jensen’s eyes, and he decides against giving any false platitudes if Jensen asks him any questions about Jared directly.

Moving away from the radio console, he quickly side-steps away from his desk to stand before them. He offers Jensen a seat but is not surprised when it’s declined, he knows how stubborn the man can be, having known him since Jared joined his unit and Jensen came along with him and set up his landscaping business in town. When customers saw his own garden, he gained a huge client base after his wife Samantha asked him for Jensen’s help to get their garden fixed up and it was worth the small fortune he paid for it because his wife was happy with the results.

“Chad, Danneel, I’m glad that you’re all back here safely but I have another task for the pair of you. I’ve just finished talking to Chris, he just radioed in and asked for someone to go get his truck from where they found Jared’s. He also told me, Chad, that you know where his spare keys. I told him that I would send the two of you because I know that he’ll be grateful knowing it’s one of you. They have decided to go on foot because it appears that’s what Jared has done, and they are hoping to find him soon. It will need to be both of you, since one will have to drop the other off, and then come back here and get ready to head back out if you both are needed. Any questions?”

“Yeah, I know where the keys are, but first, have you heard anything from Jared yet, and do you have any more information about the fire’s path?”

“Jared has not been in contact with us since the first time he managed to radio in, which is not a good sign right now, but it’s also not the end of the world, either. He could be just so focused on getting away from the fire and trying to head here. The fire is under control near the bay, but smaller pockets of it further into the dense forestation is still causing some problems, but they seem to be slowly getting them under control also. We have teams from neighbouring fire companies lending a hand with making sure no major housing developments are in danger, and the sheriff has finished evacuating anyone that was in the fire’s path. Thankfully nobody has been seriously injured or killed by the fire yet, as far as we know.”

Chad and Danneel look at each other, the looks on their faces speak volumes without uttering a word. Jensen is standing there, staring at Jeff like he just told him his pet dog died but they know it’s due to the fact of hearing that Jared hasn’t managed to radio in that has Jensen freaking out. 

“We’ll head out right away and get Chris’s truck back, and call a recovery vehicle to get Jared’s and bring it back here,” replies Danneel. “I know someone who won’t mind lending a hand and do this for me, even though it’s usually not done this way because the cops are always called first.” As she looks at Jeff, then motions to Chad to follow her out. Chad nods his head in agreement, telling Jeff and Jensen that he’ll see them both later and follows his colleague out the door. 

Jeff acquiesces Chad’s words, and tells them both to be safe and keep an eye out for each other. He watches silently as his two team members head out and waits for Jensen’s reaction, and he’s not surprised when only a few moments pass before Jensen turns to him, his face a myriad of intense expressions from fear and sadness and then hope. It’s the last emotion that Jeff needs to focus on and get Jensen to understand that everything in his power is being done to find Jared and bring him back safely. 

“Jensen, would you like anything to drink, perhaps a coffee or some tea?”

Jensen snorts loudly and even pulls a face at Jeff’s mention of tea, like he’s going to touch the stuff with a ten-foot pole. 

“I’ll have a cup of coffee, Jeff, as if you didn’t know what I drink by now.”

Jeff pokes his head out the door and asks Felicia to make some fresh coffee and to bring in two cups of the stuff when it’s ready. She smiles and acknowledges him with a quick nod of her head as she’s on the phone. Having already seen Jensen pass her by, she knows that he’s in a vulnerable state at the moment with worrying about Jared, and yes of course she’s worried about Jared herself, not knowing if he’s hurt or anything is really hard to deal with.

Felicia finishes her conversation and places the handset back down. She gets up from her seat and heads for the coffee machine, throwing out the cold brew she’d made earlier into the near-by sink and starts making a new one. Placing the coffee beans into the grinder, she watches as the black liquid falls in to the round coffee pot below. Grabbing three more mugs from the cupboard, she sets about adding sugar to her own and waits for the coffee to finish before adding some milk. 

The rich aroma permeates through the air as the coffee finishes brewing and taking a deep breath in, Felicia smiles momentarily before pouring the black liquid into Jensen’s cup, followed by Jeff’s and then her own. Carrying her own to her desk first, she comes back and grabs the other two and brings them into Jeff’s office, placing one for Jeff on his desk and hands Jensen his own mug before she turns around and heads back to her desk.

Before leaving the room, she nods to Jensen giving him her best reassuring smile, trying to tell him in just one look that everything will be okay. Jensen smiles that gentle smile of his, the one he uses for only just a few of his dearest friends, and Felicia feels very humble to know that Jensen includes her in that list of people. Just as she sits down at her desk, she overhears Jensen ask Jeff to tell him the truth about the possible scenarios Jared could be facing right now, and it hurts to hear the pain so audibly in his voice.

“Jensen, honestly, there are a number of factors to be considered. First I don’t know if he was injured when I heard him slam on the brakes in his truck,” replies Jeff as he looks at Jensen head on. “Second, there’s a possibility that we might not find him until nightfall which could be bad if the fire hasn’t chased away some of the larger predators that our woodland has, but I am hoping that Chris and his team can find him before then, because we all know how chilly it can get here once the sun goes down.” Jensen nods his head as he listens attentively to Jeff tell him about what could happen and it scares the shit out of him. He could handle Jared being injured, but Christ, he’d actually forgotten about the wild animals.

“Oh god Jeff,” sobs Jensen as he sits down heavily onto the chair behind him. 

“Jensen, what I told you are only possible outcomes. We both know that Jared is excellent at finding shelter, and can hold his own even if he’s injured in some way,” entreats Jeff. “Now, I want you to take a deep breath and relax for me. I don’t want to have to tell Jared that I had to ship you to the hospital due to you hyperventilating and passing out on me.” He looks at Jensen with determination written all over his face. He keeps looking at him until he sees Jensen starting to take calmer breaths and nodding his head. Jeff sighs with relief then, and goes back around his desk and sits down. It’s going to be a long couple of hours. But he hopes that Chris calls in soon with an update on the situation.  
Jensen looks at Jeff as he wills his breathing to calm down, this is the second time today that he’s had a friend of his needing to calm him down from a full blown panic attack. He really hopes that Chris will get in contact soon, because the suspense of not knowing anything is beginning to wear him down both emotionally and physically.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Search & Rescue Team

Chris takes point, with Kim and Briana right behind him, and Steve taking the last position. All four of them walk briskly as they try to cover as much ground as they can. It’s hitting noon now, and the temperature is slowly creeping up. Chris just hopes that wherever Jared is, that he’s okay and that he’s not too badly hurt, but he has a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that it’s quite the opposite. He just hopes that when they find him that they can get a medical e-vac with the help of the Coast Guard, or maybe the army if it comes to it.

Traversing all the fallen trees and branches is becoming increasingly more difficult, but he knows they need to keep going no matter what. He looks back once to make sure the others are keeping up with him, and smiles a little when he almost hits Kim on the nose with his elbow on his last look back. He should know by now that these members of the team are three of the best. Kim glares at him for a few moments but smiles back at him. 

Luckily for them they can make out from the bent leaves and trodden earth that Jared’s been through here recently, but they also see how many broken branches are around, some of them quite big. For any tricky parts of the track, they help each other out, making sure each one of them gets around fallen branches or over big boulders more easily; it wouldn’t do them any good if they got hurt trying to find their friend. 

Pulling out his compass, he looks down at the instrument to make sure they are still going the right way, and thankfully they are. He stops to pull out the map and waits for the others to gather around him before opening up the section they had previously scoped out with possible locations. He was now checking where they were on the map and how much ground they’ve covered since leaving the area where Jared’s truck ended up. All four of them calculate that they’ve walked ten miles so far and the first cave isn’t for another thirty miles at least, and it all depends on how the terrain ahead pans out if there is any hidden dangers or mountain lions about. 

Kim takes point this time with Steve immediately behind her, followed closely by Briana and Chris. Their strategy being that each one takes point at the next ten-mile marker just to make sure nobody gets tired or too engrossed by the surrounding area and fucks up, because that could be the difference between a rescue or a body retrieval. Kim shudders just thinking about it, she shakes her head slightly as if to banish the thoughts from her head, she keeps looking ahead, and calling out any dangerous obstacles that she comes across. 

As they hit the next ten-mile marker, Briana takes over with the other three following her. Her medic trained eyes take in all the potential falls or trips ahead of them, and she calls out to the others to be careful. She continues walking, steadily passing by the low lying fern bushes and moss covered tree trunks, making sure not to touch any poison ivy or upset any snakes which could be lurking in the underbrush and may strike if they were spooked or tread upon. After another hour of walking she turns around and calls for a break, so they can drink water and look at their map again. Chris, Steve, and Kim move to stand beside Briana, each of them taking off the packs and stretching their shoulders before taking out bottles of water. They’re quiet for a few moments as they replenish their bodies with the cooling liquid before closing the bottles back up and putting them away again. 

“Chris, can you pull out the map so we can mark off where we are now and how much we’ve covered since we looked at the map last?”

Chris replies by moving his hand to the left side pocket of his pack and pulling out the neatly folded map. He unfolds it carefully so it doesn’t tear ‒ the last thing he needs is a rip down the important section they are currently using as their search grid. His other team members turn their bodies towards him after he’s unfolded the map. Kim passes over a pen and they mark off how much they’ve covered so far. They notice that it’s only another twelve miles to the first cave, and with a bit of luck Jared will hopefully be in it and okay enough to walk, but they also know it could be the complete opposite and he could be passed out due to injury or exhaustion. 

He folds the map back up and puts it back in its spot again before turning to Briana and indicating that it’s time they should start back up once more. She acknowledges him with an affirmative nod of her head. He tells his team that when it’s Steve’s turn to take point that he’ll radio the base to let them know what’s happening and their location at that point. The other three nod their heads in agreement. Briana takes point as before and they all move out.

Jared

Jared wakes up disappointed when he doesn’t see that any rescue team have found him yet but he can’t let that get to him. He peeks over at the fire and notices it needs more fuel, so he drags his weary body into a sitting position before getting to his feet. He lifts the spare logs one at a time and puts them onto the fire, the dry wood instantly catches and the cave warms up once more, casting an orangey glow along the walls. He goes back to his pack, pulls out four more logs, carries each one individually over closer to his small fire pit and places each one down carefully. 

Once he completes the task he moves back towards his spot and slides down along the wall, letting gravity pull him down, slowing it by using his feet as an anchor by digging them into the ground. He sighs with relief when his ass touches the floor beneath him. Leaning over to his water bottle and energy bar, he takes a few mouthfuls of water, relishing it as it soothes his parched throat. Next he takes the last piece of his first energy bar. When he finishes it, he reaches for another one even though he knows he shouldn’t, but he’s quite hungry now and he needs to satisfy that hunger in some way and this is his only option. 

He stops after taking two extra bits of the bar, and folds it up to keep it safe before he places it to the side. He leans down again and gets comfortable and closes his eyes. Sleep takes him almost immediately, his body unable to fight its natural response to being hurt. 

Jared shoots awake and looks around wildly, and sees Jensen outside the cave signalling him to come out. Jared does so immediately. He smiles at the green eyed man before him and reaches out to touch, but instantly the scene changes and there’s fire all around them, it creeps along the ground like a snake, making its way closer and closer to them. Jared knows he should do something, but for once his mind is blank and he can’t comprehend what’s happening until Jensen screams and it echoes inside his head. The horrific sounds echo around him urging him into to action, but before he can take Jensen by the hand a huge tree falls between them, cutting them off from one another. Jared screams at Jensen to run but the man shakes his head from side to side in disagreement and mouths to him ‘I’m not leaving you behind’. 

Jared tries once again to get Jensen to run, but he refuses even as fire surrounds him, first licking at his feet and then his legs. Jensen can feel the heat as it begins creeping along his body like a serpent, its coils holding him tight. Jensen looks at Jared even as his body burns and Jared just cries and wails at him to move and to fight.

“JENSEN, JENSEN, NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Jared jolts awake screaming Jensen’s name, his body shooting up off the floor, and he stands so fast that he slams his left arm off the wall beside him. Jared welcomes the pain because he knows now that he was having a nightmare. Jensen isn’t dying outside the cave while he watched helplessly as the fire consumed the one person he loves more than anything. His heart beats what feels like a hundred beats a second as adrenaline is pumped around his system, his eyes search the area just outside the cave to make sure that Jensen isn’t out there. 

Pulling his arm closer to his body, Jared leans down and reaches for the water and takes a huge gulp. He greedily swallows the remainder of what’s left inside the bottle and then puts the bottle aside when he’s emptied it and reaches for the last water bottle he has left, taking only one sip before closing it back up. As the liquid settles in his belly, Jared realises that he needs to relieve himself. He makes his way to the mouth of the cave, slowly walks a small few feet away, opens his pants one-handed, reaches in and pulls himself in hand, aims as best he can at the ground and sighs happily as his bladder empties. He tucks himself back in and very slowly recloses his jeans before he turns around and goes back to the fire. 

He’s thankful that the fire hasn’t died down too much and won’t need a log for another while. He’s so tired and sore, his body aches with the pain from his severely broken arm. He throws two more logs onto the fire and stands there for a few moments, looking down into the flames, watching them flicker due to the light breeze coming in from the opening. After staring at the fire for a while, Jared starts to get really tired, it’s bone deep now, and he could really do with a pillow, a blanket and a soft mattress; the unforgiving ground is playing havoc with his bruised torso. He gets comfortable, and snorts out loud at the thought because nothing about the situation he’s found himself in is in any way comforting. Even with the hard ground underneath his aching and sore body, Jared still manages to drift off to sleep and hopes he doesn’t have any more horrendous nightmares. 

Search & Rescue Team

Briana moves from her position and lets Steve take the lead. She moves straightaway to take up the place he vacated, which was second in their line. Only ten miles more before that first cave, and so far most of the forest around them has been burnt or singed from embers that have blown here in a breeze. They’ll have to climb down from their chosen pathway as the cave is at lower level and the route they’ve been following is on an upper slope. Maybe the height advantage will work for them and they might spot Jared sooner if he’s decided to take the lower route and is already on the level of the cave, but only time will tell. 

As they move along with a steady pace, each one of them are listening and watching everything around them. They need to be more vigilant as they get closer because Jared could be anywhere from here until they hit the cave. Briana is hoping he’s in the first one and that he’s alright, but she has a feeling that he might be injured really badly at least on his upper body, due to how wrecked his truck was. She’s just hoping that her medical training will be enough to deal with his injuries, and that she has enough supplies inside her pack to use. 

When they reach the file mile marker, Steve stops and puts up his hand to get his other team members to follow suit. He’s looking down the embankment very intensely‒ something has caught his eye ‒ and he starts gesturing with his left hand towards Chris to indicate that he needs him to come over to where he’s standing, never taking his eyes off whatever he’s looking at with such rabid attention. Once Chris comes to a stop right beside him, he indicates with his right hand at what has him so riveted. 

Chris follows Steve’s hand to where it’s pointing, and sees the broken twigs and torn up ground down along the embankment as far as he can see from where he’s standing on the ridge. He looks at Steve, and Steve finally looks back at him after he tears his gaze away from what had caught his attention in the first place, and as almost like one person they turn to Briana and Kim who are standing off to the side.

The two women walk over to them with looks of curiosity spread across each of their faces and stand in front of their two friends waiting for an explanation. Kim’s brow arches in a manner that Steve determines as saying well get on with it. Steve snorts out loud and gestures to them and points at what he’s showed Chris just a few moments ago. Kim and Briana move closer and they stand in between the two men and all four of them look down over the ridge and take in more details as each of them evaluate what they are seeing below them.

“I think we need to make our way slowly down to investigate further,” replies Kim.

“I agree with Kim, this definitely looks like someone or something tumbled down,” says Briana.

“Yeah, Kim and Briana, I agree with both of you that we need to look more closely, but we must not forget our own safety as well,” counters Steve and looks at his three teammates as he does so.

Before they start making their descent, they all take their packs off and pull out their climbing gear. Each of them put on their harness and attach to each other with a tether, making sure that if someone in the front falls that there is help, Chris attaches spikes to his boots for extra support in case he has to anchor himself if someone does take a tumble. Steve takes point as he’s the best at negotiating steep declines, Kim goes second, then Briana followed closely by Chris. Steve takes it handy as he makes his way down the rather steep decline. He’s making sure to take careful steps and calls out if they need to go around a fallen log or need to step over a crevasse in the ground beneath their feet. 

As Steve steps onto the solid dry ground, he notices that it’s a dry river bed, but he doesn’t untether his link until Kim, Briana and Chris join him. One by one they take off their climbing gear and stow it back in their respective packs to pull out again if needed later on. Steve is checking out the surrounding area and spots some sort of cave in the distance, but he knows it’s not the one on the map as that is still over five miles away, and he calls out to his friends to get their attention and he points to what he can make out. The other three start to focus on the area, then and they also spot the same cave that Steve had. Chris motions for everyone to hold their position while he pulls out his radio to call base with their current location. 

“Chris to base, are you receiving me? Over.”

“This is base, receiving you loud and clear. What is your status? Over.”

“We are now currently five miles away from the first cave that is located on our map, and as of right now, we still have not located Jared but we have come across something that we intend to investigate further. Over.”

“Can you explain what you have discovered?”

“As we were making our way along the route we had chosen, Steve was on point and spotted a disturbance in the soil as we were hiking. He indicated for me to take a closer look and we both noticed that there was broken twigs and up-turned soil the further we looked down. So as a group we decided to investigate it further. We are now all standing at the bottom of a fairly sized steep decline. Over.”

“So what is your next course of action?”

“From where we are right now we can see some sort of opening in the wall of the opposite side of this dry river bed. It’s not the cave we were heading to originally, but we are going to take a closer look anyway just to be safe.”

“Ok, radio back immediately when you have searched the cave to let me know what you will need to do next, over.”

“Will do, Chief, over and out,” Chris calls out as he breaks contact with base. 

Back at Base

As soon as Chris signs off, Jeff turns back around and almost smacks into Jensen who’s standing right behind him. Christ he never even heard him move, it probably happened when Chris mentioned Steve’s discovery, he should have known that Jensen would have moved closer to hear what Chris was relaying back with details of where they were and what they were about to investigate. Jeff knows that he needs to reassure Jensen, but right at this moment, he will need to make plans in case they do find Jared.

Jeff only needs to look at Jensen for him to understand that his questions will have to wait, and is not surprised when Jensen nods in acknowledgement and moves to the side so Jeff can pass by him. Jensen follows Jeff out of his office and towards the incident room, Jeff heads to the front of the room, and notices that two of his crews are back from putting out the fire. From the accounts he’s heard, it was a pretty big one but the crews managed to put it out before it reached the base or the homes surrounding the base, which Jeff is extremely thankful for. 

Jason, Richard, Rob, Matt, as well as Osric, Gil, and Aldis are all sitting down with bottles of water in front of them. Jeff can smell the smoke that seems to be wafting off their gear, as none of them have cleaned up yet. All of them are waiting to hear if any information has come in about their close friend and work colleague. Before he manages to open his mouth, he hears footsteps approach the incident room, and turns around to see Chad and Danneel walk in. He watches as they both sit down heavily and waits a few moments to let them catch their breath before he asks them to report about what happened when they reached Chris’s truck. 

Chad and Danneel share a look and whatever passes between them, Jeff can tell that it’ll be Danneel that will do the talking. 

“When we arrived on scene the only truck we spotted straightaway was Chris’s. We actually had to exit the vehicle we were in to find Jared’s and, Jeff, we have to say that it wasn’t pretty,” exclaims Danneel shakily. “The truck itself had left the road and was down the embankment on the right hand side of the road, it was on its roof, the rear window was completely smashed in. We came to the conclusion that it was Jared who did that, because the contents from his trunk were gone.” Danneel stopped for a few minutes to take a breath before continuing on.

“Now, we don’t want to alarm anyone, but his truck was fairly bent out of shape, and it had taken quite a bashing as it careened down the embankment. I was thankfully able to call my tow-truck friend to come out there, since the fire had long passed the area, and we have both Chris’s and Jared’s truck parked out by the front. Chris’s one is right outside but my friend parked and unloaded Jared’s one to the side so it wouldn’t cause an obstruction.”

Danneel takes a deep breath after recollecting everything they’d seen, and she finally had the chance to look around the room and her eyes instantly found Jensen, standing near the back of the room looking so heartbroken and so defeated, which she needed to put a halt to right this fucking second. As she looked at her friend, she didn’t notice that Jeff and Chad were doing the exact same thing as she is, but before she gets a chance to say something to him, Jeff beats her to it.

“Jensen, I need you to take a deep breath for me, son. You need to remember that Danneel didn’t mention seeing any blood when they looked at Jared’s truck, which tells me that he has no open wounds, which is a very good outcome,” conveys Jeff calmly. “Now I know the truck’s description doesn’t sound too good, but from what I gathered from Danneel’s earlier information is that the trunk contents being gone indicates that Jared walked away from the crash and is making his way here.” Jeff is looking closely at Jensen to make sure the man doesn’t pass out on them and only breathes when Jensen tilts his head in understanding.

“Now, before I delve into anything more because just before I came out here, Chris had radioed in from their current location, which was five miles from the first cave that is marked on their map. He informed me that Steve had spotted something that needed further inspection so they, in tandem, climbed down a sharp decline to a dried out river bed,” informs Jeff. “The reason for doing so is that the ground was disturbed recently, and not by animals, so as of right now we are waiting to hear back from him and his team. For now I want the two crews who’ve just recently arrived to get some grub and clean up a bit, I will personally inform all of you if anything happens in the next ten to fifteen minutes or so.”

Jeff watches his two teams that were dealing with the fire file out of the room and head for the shower rooms. The only people left in the room with him are Chad, Danneel and Jensen. He peeks out the door to Felicia and signals for a round of coffees if she has the time. She smiles back at him, and he knows she’ll bring them in some coffee as soon as she get a free moment to do so. 

Jared

Jared wakes up abruptly and blinks his eyes open. He sits up slowly to look around, and notices that the fire is after dying down a good bit since the last time he placed logs on top of the fire to keep it stoked up. As he contemplates getting up to get more firewood, he spots the radio out of the corner of his eye and thinks that he should try calling for help. Wearily he stretches over while trying to keep his balance, but he fails as he over stretches, which sends his body crashing onto the rough hard ground beneath him. He tries to stop the screams that threatens to leave his lips and he manages to hold back one, but with the pain intensifying he just can’t hold it in anymore.

“Fuck!” Jared shouts out as pain erupts all along his nerve endings, his senses are so overwhelmed that he almost thinks they are screaming at him in retaliation for moving in the first place. Jared curls his body as best he can around his broken left arm and cries fat tears, there’s no stopping them now as they flow down along his face in tiny rivulets like drops of rain on a window. 

“Jared, is that you?! Where are you, man?!”

Jared stops crying for a moment when he thinks he hears something but when nothing else is said, he knows that he’s imagining things now because of the sheer pain he’s in. His tears start falling once more, he’s so tired, maybe going back to sleep is a good idea. As he drifts in and out, his ears perk up once more when they catch something on the wind, but he refuses to open his eyes as he thinks he’s really losing it this time.

“Jared, please if you can hear me, answer back!”

Jared rocks his body from side to side as he tries to ignore the pain he’s feeling when something touches his shoulder. He shrugs it off thinking it’s a leaf or dirt until it happens again with a little more force. He turns around and breaks down again when he sees four faces looking down at him, relief, concern and worry etched across each one. 

Search & Rescue Team

Since the river bed is wide enough, the four friends walk four abreast and head towards the opening they all noticed when Steve pointed it out to them. They walk briskly but carefully when a horrendous scream that sounds like the word fuck echoes through the air around them. Chris is the first one to stop, followed very quickly by Steve, Kim and Briana. They all look at one another before Chris makes a decision to call out. “Jared, is that you? Where are you, man?” All of them listen attentively for a response, but nothing comes, so Kim tries this time, raising her voice slightly in hopes that Jared can hear it more clearly.

“Jared, please if you can hear me, answer back!” 

When nobody calls back, Kim looks at Briana, and then Chris and Steve. No words are spoken between them as one by one they keep heading towards that opening. Their pace more quickened as if something is pulling them in that direction. Kim gets near the opening first, spots the small column of smoke, and immediately turns to the others and tells them to hurry. Once all four of them are together they move inside. As one and they spot Jared, rocking from side to side, and worry hits Briana instantly. 

Her paramedic training is kicking in as to the possibilities, but first they’ll need to get Jared’s attention. Briana takes it upon herself to make a move, and heads towards her distraught friend. She nudges his shoulder gently and only once, but notices it doesn’t get his attention the way she’d like it to so she tries again and does it with a little more force, and that’s when Jared turns towards her and he instantly breaks down in sobs when he spots them, and it puts them all on alert. 

It breaks Briana’s heart to see her dear friend in such distress; she looks at the others and sees the same thoughts on their faces. They need to get Jared to safety and fast. By now the day has moved well into the evening, which means they’ll need to get a medical extraction organised quickly. Looking around she sees Chris pulling out his radio to contact Jeff and she knows that more help will be on the way.

“Will do, let me know more when you get the chance. I’ll have to go outside to radio in. Steve, I want you and Kim to give Briana a hand if she needs one,” replies Chris as he exits.

“Hey Jay, can you sit up a bit for me so I can check you out?” asks Briana in a soft calming tone. She watches Jared closely to see if he needs any help, and she notices right away that he’s cradling his left arm against his body.

“Now Jay, I can tell just from looking at you that something is wrong with your left arm, so it means that I will have to take a closer look at it. Just let me know if it hurts too much or if you feel nauseated or lightheaded, okay?”

Jared nods his head and releases his arm warily, watching his friend come closer. He feels it instantly when she touches his hand slightly, but he keeps from shouting out.

“Okay Jay, I know that it has to be hurting you because I saw you grimace. I need you to tell me where the pain is precisely, and what part of your arm do you feel safe with me touching.”  
“Everything but my fingers hurt. I felt my arm snap twice, when the truck rolled down the embankment and when I went tumbling down the hillside. I can still feel my fingers if I touch them with my right hand.”

“Okay then, I am going to splint your arm before I even think about moving you, which means I need to administer you pain relief. Since I am not a fully licensed doctor, it will have to be Entonox, which is a combination of gas and air. Now it might make you feel dizzy and giddy, but just know that you’re in safe hands.”

Jared nods his head while he waits for some pain relief, and watches Briana as she roots around her medic bag and pulls out a green whistle. Jared finds that oddly amusing.   
When Briana looks back up and sees a small smile appear on Jared’s face she knows that he’s spotted the whistle. She smiles back at him, places it into his right hand, and indicates to him that he should bring it to his mouth.

“Jay, I need you to suck on the whistle. I’m serious Jay, and the action will release the pain killer into your system,” admonishes Briana as she tries to look at him sternly. 

“Okay Briana,” complies Jared as he brings the whistle to his mouth, takes in a big breath and feels the pain reducing just slightly.

“Now Jay, I am going to put your left arm in a splint to keep it in place. I want you to keep sucking on the whistle because the pain will only increase if you stop, okay. Do you understand me, Jay?”

“Okay, just try to be quick,” replies Jared as he keeps doing as he’s instructed. 

“Steve, Kim, I need both of you, one on either side of Jared. I need you to keep him still while I do the splint. It will hurt him, and he’s going to want to move away from me, but I can’t let him do that as he could further damage his arm to the point that it could sever tendons and possible blood vessels,” requests Briana and is relieved when they move to Jared immediately and brace him, Kim on his left and Steve on his right side. 

She begins the task of splinting Jared’s severely broken arm, all the while trying to keep the pain to a minimum that she knows Jared is feeling by the quickening of the inhalations he’s doing on the pain relief whistle. As she continues working on the splint she hears Chris call out to her. She shouts back what she’s doing, and that Jared will need to be airlifted to the hospital with a multiple fractures to his left arm, but has sensation in his fingers which means blood flow is not compromised at this moment. 

Back at Base

“Chris to base, are you receiving me over?”

“This is base, we are receiving you loud and clear. What is your status? Over.”

“We have located Jared and from what I could tell, he is hurt in some way. Briana is currently looking at him. Over”

“Okay Chris, can you ask Briana if she can relay any more information on Jared’s condition and does he need to be airlifted out. Over”

“I’ll have to silent for a few minutes so I can call out to Briana for the info. Over.”

“We’ll be waiting. Over.” Jeff sits patiently by the communications unit as he waits for Chris to radio back in and he’s not waiting too long when the radio crackles to life once more.

“Let us know when the chopper is on its way as she is splinting his arm so we can move him safely, over.” Chris also fills Jeff in on what Briana told him.

“I will radio back immediately after I contact the Coast Guard for medical assistance and evac by use of helicopter to your location. Over and out.”

Jeff moves from the second communications device located in the incident room to the one in his office. He can hear Jensen, Danneel and Chad following him by the sound of their footsteps on the ground as they walk. He places a call into the nearest Coast Guard and requests medical evac assistance, he passes on the longitude and latitude coordinates and gets an ETA from them that he can pass on to his guys on the ground. He also passes on the radio frequency that Chris is using in case the Coast Guard needs to contact him as they make their approach. Once he finishes his call, the places the handset down before turning back around and picking up the radio mike. 

“Base to Chris, do you hear me? Over.”

“Chris speaking, over.”

“Called in the Coast Guard, their ETA is five to ten minutes depending on weather conditions, but at the moment everything is okay. I have given them your radio frequency as well, so they will contact you, over.”

“Got it, I’ll be waiting for their call, over and out.” The radio clicks off. Jeff braces himself before he turns around, because he knows he’ll probably have forty different questions fired at him from the three other people in his office.

“Jeff, can you tell me if Jared’s coming home and how he is?” asks Jensen, his tone pleading.

“I can tell you that he’s being airlifted to the hospital as of Briana’s orders. Chris told me that Jared’s left arm is severely broken and from what Briana could tell, there are multiple fractures. We won’t know which hospital until the Coast Guard radios in with the details,” replies Jeff honestly and looking Jensen in the eyes as he does so.  
“Oh God, he must be in so much pain. I need to see him, Jeff, with my own eyes, do you understand that? Until I see him in person, you could tell me he’s okay until the cows come home and I wouldn’t believe you, no offence. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep, or eat otherwise.”

“Of course I understand that, Jensen, because if it was my Samantha then I would be in the same boat as you.”

“Jeff, do you think the Coast Guard will be able to airlift given their position, because from the coordinates that Chris gave us, they are in fairly rocky terrain from where it is on the map on your wall,” asks Chad as he looks at his boss.

“I had noticed that also, Chad, but I think that the Coast Guard can send one down by winch and coordinate winching everyone safely and getting them on to the chopper. I know they’ll take Jared first and then work out which of them goes next,” answer Jeff as he looks at all three of them. Chad and Danneel nod their heads, but Jensen just stares into space.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Search & Rescue Team

Chris attaches the radio to his belt clip while he makes his way back to the others to fill them in on what’s going to happen. He just hopes that Jared will make a full recovery because multiple fractures are no laughing matter, and recovery can take quite a while

“Hey guys, the Coast Guard’s ETA is between five to ten minutes, and they’ll radio me before they arrive. How’s Jared doing Briana?” inquires Chris as he enters the mouth of the cave, noticing that Briana has finished the splint to keep Jared’s arm immobilised. 

“He’s doing okay for now. The Entonox is doing the job for the time being, but he will need morphine by the time we reach the hospital, so I’m really hoping its five minutes when they get here.”

Chris is just about to respond to Briana when his radio crackles and a voice comes over the airways. 

“This is Captain Jim Beaver of US Coast Guard rescue chopper Tango 66, we are currently one mile from your location. We will need a visual reference to pin-point your exact location, over.”

“Reading you loud and clear, Captain Beaver, this is Lieutenant Chris Kane. One of my team members is setting off an orange coloured flare to mark our location for the evac as we speak. Over.”

“Flare has been spotted, we will be with you in one minute, please have casualty ready for airlift and keep your comm link open for further instructions. Over and out.”

Chris turns around to his teammates and whistles to get their attention. They all lift their heads at the same time, which is kinda freaky, but he shakes it off. 

“Guys, we need to get Jared ready to be airlifted, the chopper is almost here,” requests Chris as he looks at his team and his hurt friend.

“Okay, we are good to go, Chris?”

“They already informed me that Jared would be first, Briana. I know Jared needs to get out of here so they can get him settled more comfortably while they winch the rest of us up.”  
“I know, Chris, Jared’s pain is beginning to come back, and I don’t think the Entonox is going to work for too much longer,” replies Briana as she helps Kim manoeuvre Jared out of the cave and into the clearing, and not a minute too soon as they hear the sound of the rotary blades of the chopper in the sky as it gets closer.

“Lieutenant Kane, I am sending down a medic for evac, he will need to secure the casualty before we can winch him up, do you copy? Over.”

“Understood Captain Beaver. Jared is ready to go.”

Seconds later the chopper hovers above their heads. They shield their faces to protect their eyes from the downdraft, which has wind speeds of a hurricane at full power. They move collectively away from the wind and wait for the arrival of the Coast Guard medic to winch down, which he does once the safety checks are carried out by the crew of the chopper. As the medic’s feet touch the ground, he quickly but safely unhooks from the line and walks briskly to the team of fire and rescue personnel. He immediately spots the injured person and heads for him promptly. He nods his head at Briana who’s holding on to the injured man gently.

“Ma’am, my name’s Riley, and if it’s okay with you I would like to do a quick assessment of your friend?”

“Sure Riley, his name is Jared, and he’s all yours.”

Riley smiles at her in thanks before he turns his attention to Jared. He can tell that the man is in pain from the grimaces that cross his face every few seconds.

“Jared, I am going to do a very quick assessment to determine how best to winch you into the helicopter. Can you tell me where the majority of your pain is?”  
“The only pain I really feel is still from my arm, even though my friend Briana put in a splint not too long ago. I just want to get out of here to be honest,” replies Jared with such sincerity that it makes Riley smile.

“Okay Jared, so do you think I could attach the harness around you, or would you prefer the more secure option?”

“The more secure one please, I don’t want my arm to be jostled around anymore.”

Hitting his mike, Riley radios to his winch man and requests the airlift basket to be lowered down. He signals Chris and Steve to retrieve the basket and bring it over to Jared’s location. As he waits for the basket, he reassures Jared that everything will be okay and that they should be all out of here shortly. Chris and Steve place the basket in front of Jared, making sure it’s completely flat. Once it’s flat, Riley, Chris and Steve help Jared lower himself down, making his descent as slow as possible. It wouldn’t do Jared any good to smack his injured left arm off the side of the metal basket.

“Okay Jared, I am going to use the straps that you saw on the basket to secure you on the journey up into the helicopter, so don’t be alarmed when you feel them go across your legs and chest.”

Jared nods and relaxes as best as he can while he is securely strapped and then carried to the winch line a few feet away. He watches as Riley attaches the hook and tightens the locking mechanism before he indicates to his winch man to start the process of lifting the basket. The guide rope makes sure the basket doesn’t sway in the wind. After only a few moments have passed Jared sees the opening of the chopper and is pulled inside. The basket is manoeuvred to where it can fit before he sees the winch operator send back down the line. 

One by one, Briana, Chris, Steve, and Kim are hoisted into the chopper, with Riley coming in with Kim in a tandem lift. Winch operator Abel shows the four others where they need to sit and to strap in. After everyone is secure, Riley gives Captain Beaver the all clear to head for the hospital, which is a ten minute flight away. Jared falls into a light doze since he knows he’s safe and slightly warm as he listens to the rotary blades of the chopper as it flies. He barely hears the pilot radio in to Jared’s base and the hospital to tell them they are on their way with one casualty and four other individuals who are all okay. 

Emergency Department, Glenveagh General Hospital

Doctor Misha Collins is waiting on the hospital’s roof with a gurney and two nurses for the Coast Guard helicopter that he was informed was on its way here with one person with suspected multiple fractures to their left arm. From the information given to him by the Coast Guard medic over the radio, the arm was splinted on scene by the fire and rescue medic who is on board the chopper, as well as the other members of the fire and rescue team that located the casualty.

He hears the incoming chopper before he sees it, he ducks his head against the downward draft from the blades and waits until the chopper completely lands as he helps the nurses push the gurney towards the open door of the chopper. The three of them secure the gurney and watch as the occupants of the chopper emerge carrying the rescue basket. He watches as they carefully tilt the casualty off and place him on the gurney, and only then does Doctor Collins see who was in the basket, and his eyes widen when he sees that it’s his friend Jared. 

Holy freaking shit, he had no idea it was Jared when the call came in just a few moments ago, but it strangely makes sense because Jensen, Chad, Danneel, and Chief Morgan are all down in the emergency room on the ground floor. He just assumed that Jared was accompanying the casualty, not the casualty itself. Thanking the Coast Guard crew, Doctor Collins takes over and listens faintly to the chopper taking off, heading back to its own base for refuelling. 

“Hey, Jared, don’t worry, you’re in the right place now. We’re going to take you straight to X-ray to see what damage has been done to your arm, and then we’ll go from there. And before you ask, Jensen is already here waiting for you, but the pair of you will just have to wait a bit longer.”

Jared smiles when he hears Misha’s voice, and then he’s even happier when Misha tells him that Jensen is here. He acquiesces about needing to wait because the pain is coming back full force, he’s just about to tell Misha when he hears his friends Briana, Kim, Chris, and Steve come to stand beside the gurney and then walk alongside it as it’s pushed towards the elevator. 

“Hey, Misha, any chance of stronger pain meds, the pain is intensifying and I embarrassed myself enough today when the gang found me,” asks Jared as a grimace of pain shoots across his face.

“As soon as we get downstairs to X-ray, I’ll administer some morphine and then get the nurse to start an intravenous drip so you can have pain relief at managed regular intervals.  
Okay, Jared?”

“Yeah Misha, that’s fine.”

Once securely inside the elevator, Misha presses the button and stands quietly as the numbers drop down and finally stop on the ground floor. The door opens and the nurses push the gurney through the open door towards the X-ray department and help their patient remove any metal objects, including his belt and his boots. They get him into position once again and tell him to relax as best he can while the radiographer calls out instructions for Jared to turn certain ways, but always mindful of the suspected damaged arm.  
The four images at various angles confirm Briana’s original diagnosis. Jared has multiple fractures located at both upper and lower arm level. At this moment it appears that his circulation has not been compromised, but further tests will be carried out in due course to determine if that’s one hundred percent true. Jared is wheeled down to the CAT scan room to carry out the next part of Misha’s tests. Misha is waiting until Jared is settled in a private room before he will tell him all of the results. Once all of Jared’s tests are finished, the two nurses that have accompanied him from the start wheel him down to the elevator to bring him to the fourth floor to wait for the results, and to see his boyfriend and his friends.

Jared’s Hospital Room

Jared looks around the room he’s given as he lies back on the bed under strict instructions not to move by the two helpful nurses that wheeled him in. Looking up at the ceiling, he starts counting the tiles to pass the time, and he’s rewarded for his patience because the door opens and in walks Jensen with Misha and their closest friends. The second Jensen’s eyes land on Jared, he walks briskly towards the bed and takes Jared’s right hand in his, and squeezing it gently to reconnect with him the easiest way he knows how. While he holds Jared’s hand, he’s overcome with relief and a few tears fall from his eyes. His hand is squeezed in return and he looks down at the man he loves and sees his smile at him, the love is shining through so brightly from the incredible hazel orbs. 

“Hey guys, now that everyone is in the room, you can know how Jared is doing. Briana, you were correct in your initial assessment of Jared’s arm. There are multiple fractures to both the upper and lower arm, and I’m afraid surgery will be needed to correct the breaks, which means pins. Any questions?” asks Misha as he looks around the room. “Now the procedure will be carried out by myself tomorrow morning, as Jared will need to be fasting for the operation. I do have good news though, there is no damage to your tendons, muscles or nerves, which means a full recovery followed by physiotherapy once you’ve healed up, just to make sure you have full mobility.”

The various people in the room are standing there taking in all the information Misha just gave them in one huge breath. Briana is nodding her head in understanding, but she’s also looking at Jared and knowing how long the recuperation from an operation like this could take if there’s no setbacks or complications during the surgery. Jensen is just looking at him, his mouth open in shock, while Jared looks down at his arm trying to look through the splint to see how his arm might look after his surgery. 

“Now visiting hours will be over at nine pm tonight, so everyone will have to leave except Jared’s partner. All of you have another hour and a half to spend time with Jared, but then he needs his sleep. Surgery is scheduled for first thing tomorrow. I’ll check in on you again at nine fifteen this evening Jared to see how you’re doing before I clock out for the night, but we have an excellent overnight nursing staff and my colleague Abby Sciuto will be on night duty if anything should arise that needs urgent attention.” Misha waves to everyone before exiting the room, leaving all the friends to catch up with Jared, and for them to all breathe a sigh of relief that he’s going to be okay.

As soon as the door closes, Jensen seems to regain his composure, and he turns towards Jared and simply looks at him from his head right down to his feet before going back up and stopping on his splinted arm, taking in the blue material that’s holding Jared’s arm in a secure position. 

“Hey Jen, look at me for a minute,” asks Jared pleadingly.

“What, Jay?” Jensen replies as he tears his eyes away from Jared’s arm to look up at his face.

“Everything’s going to be okay. Misha’s going to work his magic tomorrow, and then I’ll be on the mend. My arm will heal and, yeah, I know it’s going to be a long time before I can bench press, but we’ll manage, won’t we?” asks Jared. 

“I know you’ll be okay, but my God, when Chad came to get me earlier today, I thought you were gone, Jared. Do you have any idea how that felt?”  
“Get up here Jen, I need you beside me so I know you’re real.”

“Jared, I can’t do that, our friends want to see you as well.”

“Jen, they left the room just a moment ago. They know we needed to be alone for a few minutes, and they understand that what happened today was traumatic for both of us. Now get up here, or I won’t be able to rest properly without you beside me,” asks Jared as he looks at Jensen with huge pleading eyes.

“Pulling out the big guns huh? I see where this is going. I’m only doing this because you asked. You can deal with the nurses when they come in here and complain,” admonishes Jensen as he watches Jared make room for him, he climbs up onto the bed as careful and gently as he can so he doesn’t jostle Jared’s arm. He settles next to Jared’s right side and is immediately surrounded by his warmth, Jensen body shakes with silent tears as he leans his head against the chest of the man he loves so very deeply. 

Jensen’s head is still laying on Jared’s chest when their friends peek in the door, he sees Jared waving at them too come into the room. Jensen decides to stay where he is, because he just can’t tear himself away from Jared’s side yet. He’ll have to do it tomorrow morning, and that will be hard enough while Jared undergoes his surgery. Jensen is just about to say something but his boyfriend beats him to it.

“Hey guys, thanks for being here and for getting me out of the woods earlier. I was beginning to struggle with keeping the pain at bay by not thinking of it, but when I saw you Briana and the others, I knew then I was safe with you to let the walls down and not cover up how much pain I was in.”

“Jaybird, no thanks is needed. Any one of us would have taken your place and it would have been you coming to find us,” replies Briana while smiling at her friend, whose right hand is curved protectively around Jensen as he lays beside him.

“Thanks, Briana, but I know deep down that you guys found me just in time, but that’s for another day. So, can anyone tell me how much did the fire destroy in the end, and did anyone get seriously hurt or die from being caught in the fire?” asks Jared and he looks over at his boss Jeff for the full details, because he knows Jeff will give him a straight answer and not leave out anything. 

“The fire itself did destroy a lot of forestry, but nobody was hurt or has died as a result of the fire. Everyone who I sent out to deal with the fire came back safe and sound. Even Chad and Danneel did, for the second job they had to do which was get Chris’s truck back to headquarters, and they also got someone to tow yours back as well, but I’m afraid to say that it’s a write-off.”

“Well, that’s good to know about the fire being completely out and that nobody got hurt. I am not surprised at my truck is totalled. I was very lucky to escape with barely a slightly broken arm when it rolled down over the embankment. It was my fall in the forest that made my arm worse, but even that could have gone a different way, and I might not be talking to any of you now.”

“Jesus Jared, you really did go through the ringer today. I am surprised that you can still keep your eyes open with the adventure you had today,” replies Chad as he looks fondly at his friend. 

Jared’s boisterous laugh filled the room as he listened to Chad, and then he grimaced when he moved his left arm a bit, and just grinned when he heard Jensen tsking him from where he was lying beside him. Jared is just about to respond to Chad after his laughing fit when the door opens and a nurse walks in. He can tell from her face that she doesn’t like the fact that Jensen is on the bed, but she rolls her eyes at them as she makes her way over to the bed.

“Now, Mr. Padalecki, you know that hospital policy is that this bed is for one person.”

“Uh nurse, please call me Jared, Mr. Padalecki is my dad. Couldn’t you make an exception this time? It will be our secret,” pleads Jared as he looks at the nurse with his puppy dog eyes of doom.

“My name is Abby, those eyes will not work on me, but you’re in luck because Doctor Collins has already explained to me that if I wanted a peaceful night without the sounds of wailing in the wee hours that I was to let your boyfriend stay in the room with you for my own sanity,” replies Abby. 

Jensen chuckles quietly as he listens to Nurse Abby talk to Jared in a lightly scolding manner, but he can tell from the twinkle in her eye that she’s messing with him. He could also tell that Jared knows it by the way he’s chuckling lightly, as he can feel Jared’s body shake with them underneath his head which is lying on Jared’s chest.

“Trust Misha to tell you that, the midget. He’s lucky I have to stay lying down, or else I’d be chasing him all over the floor of this hospital,” replies Jared with a cheeky grin plastered across his face.

“He also told me you’d say that, and his reply was ‘in your dreams Sasquatch’,” Abby responds as she giggles at the look that appears on Jared’s face, which also sends the other people into fits of laughter. Jensen can’t contain his own laughter anymore and laughs loudly, he knows exactly what Jared’s face must look like right now, as he’s seen it too many times himself to count.

Jared smiles brightly as he hears Jensen laugh deep from his chest, and it is like music to his ears. He grins up at the nurse, and she smiles back because Jared’s smile is so bright that even she’s powerless to resist. Jared just smirks as he takes in the other people in the room, smiling and laughing, and he can see a lot of the tension that was in their shoulders start to loosen as the mood lightens.

Abby looks around the room and sees everyone happy, and she quickly catches on to what Jared is doing with his humour and dry wit ‒ the tension she had felt when she first entered the room has now dissipated and it feels a lot calmer and happier. She finally understands now why so many people had run into the waiting room earlier, and security had to call her to get everyone to settle down. 

She didn’t know who exactly the person being airlifted was, but now she knows why the one lying next to Jared was so frantic with worry and was barely holding himself together. Moving closer to the occupants on the bed, she lifts up Jared’s chart to take a look at any instructions that Doctor Collins may have left, and she notices one which is fasting due to early morning procedure. 

Just as Abby’s about to say something, a loud rumbling noise echoes through the room after everyone has quietened down from the laughing that had taken over the room a few minutes ago. She looks up from the chart to see Jared’s face turning a bright red colour, and she knows right away where the sound came from. 

“Yeah, that was me,” Jared replies even as the blush darkens on his face.

Jensen moves his body away from Jared’s slightly when he hears the beast inside Jared’s body looking for food. He knows what Abby’s answer will be, even if Jared doesn’t want to admit that he knows what it will be as well.

“Don’t even think about asking for some food, Jared. You already know what my answer will be and if you don’t believe me, it’s written in black and white on your chart by your doctor,” Abby tells him sternly while she looks him straight in the eye.

“Okay, I won’t ask, but everyone has to put up with the noise then because it won’t stop until I eat,” Jared replies as he looks back at Abby.

“You may have fluids, and by that I mean water, for another few hours so I will get catering staff to bring you a jug of water and a plastic cup to use.”

“I can handle that, I am getting quite thirsty, so thanks for letting me have some water.”

“No problem, Jared, I’ll head to the nurses desk to get catering up here with some water for you. I don’t want you to guzzle it down, do try sipping it, okay? I’ll be your nurse overnight as well, so you’ll have a friendly face,” Abby replies before she turns around and exits the room, leaving all the friends together again to chat some more.

Nurses Station

Abby heads to the desk, picks up the telephone, and dials a number she knows by heart. She chats to one of her friends on the other end and asks for a jug of water and a plastic cup to be brought up to Jared’s room. She gives the number through the phone, she says goodbye and hangs up. Once she completes the call, she makes a note on the other copy of Jared’s chart, which is located on her desk. It is always handy to have two copies just in case one gets tampered with, and none of the nurses want to deal with the backlash they would get from the higher-ups in the hospital, l never mind Doctor Collins. 

She sits at her desk once she finishes her notes, checking on other files of patients that are located on this floor, most of them sharing a ward instead of having a private room. Doctor Collins assigned Jared a private room because of the sheer volume of visitors he would be getting while he was at the hospital. Abby also knew that Jared was a friend of Doctor Collins and his wife. As she’s typing up the last bit of information, she looks when she hears a noise to see her friend pass by with the jug of water. They smile at each other before getting back to work. 

Jared’s Hospital Room

A few minutes go by before the door opens again. A member of the catering staff comes in carrying a big jug of water and two plastic cups in her hands. She heads to the table next to the bed and places the three items on the table. She smiles at the two men sitting on the bed and nods her head at the others in the room before she turns around and heads back out the door, which closes quietly behind her as she does so. 

Jensen gets up from the bed to pour Jared some water, and fills the second one for himself. He gives one to Jared as he passes by before he takes a drink of his, the cool water refreshes his throat as it slides down towards his belly. He sighs with relief as his thirst is quenched, looks over at Jared who is sipping his drink like he was asked to do. Jensen smiles at Jared, knowing how much he would like to just gulp it back in one go and then have another drink, but he knows that the surgery in the morning is very important, and he knows that Misha will kick his ass if he goes against his instructions. 

Jared reaches the end of his cup of water, he sighs as his throat stops feeling so dry, and he grins at Jensen when he leans slightly over to place his cup on the table. He turns his head to look around at the people who are still in the room, talking quietly amongst themselves about the day’s events and how lucky their town was to not lose anyone because of the fire. As he looks at them he realises just how close he came to losing all this, but deep down he knows that he could never give up being a firefighter, and he hopes that Jensen understands this. 

Jensen climbs back up on the bed, still being mindful of Jared’s arm, and snuggles back against Jared once more, listening to the others talk while he soaks up Jared’s warmth. Jared’s always run hot, which is good for times like this when Jensen just wants to stay wrapped up with Jared surrounding him. The warmth soaks in through his clothes and he begins to drift off, sleep is closing in on him with each passing second. 

Jared hugs Jensen closer to him when he hears and feels the tell-tale signs of his boyfriend falling asleep. Jared could tell from the bags under his eyes that he didn’t sleep much because of what happened. He only hopes that he can sleep later on himself without having that horrible nightmare that plagued his dreams earlier before his friends found him. He automatically pulls Jensen closer to him so he can feel his warmth and hear him breathe. 

While Jensen sleeps against him, Jared talks quietly with his friends, and he finds out that it was their mutual friends Chad and Danneel that went to get Jensen earlier and brought him back to base on Jeff’s orders. When he asks Jeff why, his reply is simple and it warms Jared to know how much Jensen is liked, which amuses Jeff. It causes Jared to frown, and Jeff to stifle his laugh before it got to loud. Jeff calmly explains to Jared that Jensen isn’t just Jared’s partner, he’s also their friend, so of course Jensen would have been looked after. 

Misha pops in just as Jeff is finished telling Jared why they care about them so much, and Jared has to wipe away a few tears from his eyes all while trying not to disturb Jensen, who still appears to be asleep. 

“Hey guys, just popping in to let you know that visiting hours will be ending in about ten minutes, and that everyone is welcome to come back tomorrow around lunch time. Jared will have had time after his operation to be more alert,” states Misha as he looks towards their joint group of friends who are taking up various positions along the back wall of the room. Everyone lets Misha know that they understand so he heads away again, closing the door softly as he goes.

Jeff moves closer to Jared’s bed first and pats his right shoulder and tells him good luck with the surgery, and that he’d be back to see him in the afternoon with Felicia, as she was upset with him for leaving her at the base, but someone had to be there for a little while yet. She only offered after making Jeff promise that she’d get to see Jared the following day. 

Briana and Kim move to him next and pass on the same sentiments before heading off to eat and freshen up after their long day, Steve does the same before he too heads off. Danneel, Chad and Chris follow next and come up to the bed, standing around it for a few moments so Chad and Chris could pat Jared’s shoulder like Jeff did and for Danneel to lean down and kiss Jared’s cheek and Jensen’s, but she does so very softly so he doesn’t wake up. 

The door closes behind Danneel with an audible click as his room is so silent. Jared rests his head back against the pillow and drifts off to sleep, his body finally succumbing to the exhaustion that has been plaguing him for an hour or so. His body sinks deeper into the mattress as his mind drifts off and his dreams take over, his hand automatically tightening around Jensen, bringing him closer to his own body.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Jared’s Hospital Room

Jensen doesn’t know how long he slept for when a whimpering sound catches his attention, and it sounds so sad that it instantly has him on alert and sitting upright so quickly he almost loses his balance and falls off the side of the bed but manages to stop himself before going face first onto the linoleum floor. Jensen sits up a bit better and looks around trying to decipher where the sound could have come from when he hears it again, and realises that it’s coming from his boyfriend, who is still lying on the bed next to him. He turns towards him and his heart breaks at the look on Jared’s face, he can also see tears falling down along his cheeks in tiny rivulets that drip down along his neck and hit the hospital gown covering his body. 

Jensen moves off the bed he’s sitting on entirely and goes around the end of the bed to Jared’s left side, and he moves the table away to get closer to where he knows he’s needed. Reaching out a hand, he gently nudges Jared on his chest, hoping that the small movement will wake him. He finds that it doesn’t, so he tries a little harder, and he’s awarded by his efforts when he sees Jared’s eyes open up and look at him perplexedly as if he’s wondering why Jensen shook him awake, but Jensen can see Jared’s eyes become more alert when the man finally understands why he woke him. He watches as Jared reaches up to his face and wipe the tears away forcefully while trying not to look at Jensen as he does so, but Jensen is having none of that and reaching out he pulls Jared’s face towards his own. 

“Hey, don’t do that, Jay. You never have to hide from me, you know that,” says Jensen as worry creeps into his mind as to why Jared would turn away from him.

“Of course I know that, Jen, and you’ve done nothing wrong. It’s just the dream ‒ well, I should say nightmare ‒ that was playing on repeat in my head just before you woke me. Thank you for that, by the way.”

“You can tell me about the nightmare, it might help you sleep better after you talk about it, and you might just need to let it all out and know that I am here for you no matter what.”

“Okay Jen, you’re probably right. Before our friends found me, I had a horrible dream when I drifted off to sleep at one stage. You were in it, and I thought it was you who found me when you beckoned me outside, but it wasn’t. I almost got to touch you seconds before the scene changed around me and the fire was all around us. It started at your feet, and was wrapping around you like a serpent in the night. At first I couldn’t comprehend what was happening until I heard you scream, and I started shouting at you to move, but you didn’t. I tried to get to you, but it felt like I was stuck, and then I woke up screaming your name,” as tears pour down his face once more, his body shaking as he weeps.  
Jensen looks at Jared with shock and horror and what he was dreaming about, and the only thing he can think of to comfort him is to move closer to the bed and wrap him up in his arms as best he can. Jensen lets him know that it was just a dream, it wasn’t real, rocking him back and forth gently while he whispers soothing words in Jared’s ear, moves his left arm up and down his back trying to calm the gut-wrenching sobs that was shaking his body. Jensen eases back when he feels Jared start to pull away from him a small bit, and he looks down and kisses his boyfriend on the lips, just a gentle caress to let him know that everything is okay, that he’s still here and not going anywhere.

For the next hour or so, the two of them relax once again back against the pillows and talk quietly to each other until they drift off to sleep, not even hearing Abby come in to check on them. She smiles when she sees them, and makes another note in Jared’s chart before turning down the lights and closing the door softly as to not wake the occupants of the room. 

Jared is the first one awake as the sun’s rays shine through the window, bouncing off the white washed walls and hitting Jared square in the face making him blink rapidly to try to lessen the intensity of the light dancing around the inside of his eyelids. He feels Jensen stir beside him as he begins to wake up, and Jared is grateful they both slept. Jared stretches as best he can with Jensen still lying beside him until he gets up and stretches out his own kinks from sharing such a small bed, these single sizes were not meant for two men over six feet in height. He watches as Jensen stretches and licks his lips as Jensen reveals the soft skin of his belly when the t-shirt he’s wearing rides up, and he’s caught staring when Jensen turns his head to look at him and he smirks knowingly. 

The two men are still looking at each other when the door opens as Misha walks into the room with two male orderlies in tow. He sees his friends looking at each other, he knows those looks, and he can understand the longing in each of their eyes, but for the moment there is more pressing matters at hand and Jared’s surgery is paramount. He clears his throat to get their attention and it works magically, causing them to turn their heads to look at him. 

“Okay Jay, it’s time for your surgery now. I have Philip and Sean with me to bring you down to the operating room where you’ll be prepped for surgery. I just need you to sign some consent forms and to fill in any allergy information that might be needed for surgery purposes. For example, if you are allergic to Iodine, which we use to mark the area that will be operated on that sort of thing,” explains Misha as he brings the documents closer to his friends, pushing the table with him as he does so. 

Jared reads over the documents that he needs to sign before filling out any information that is required, and then he signs both documents before he hands them back to Misha, who puts them in a folder. Jared looks back at Jensen, trying to gauge his reaction, and luckily for him that Jensen is looking right back at him, but before he has a chance to ask Jensen if he’s okay, Misha starts talking to both of them, which makes Jared have to focus on him instead. 

“Now, Jensen, you are able to come down with Jared until he has to go into the operating room, and there is a waiting room not too far away from there, so you will be able to at least sit down while you wait for his surgery to be over. I will give you both a few minutes to reassure each other before we wheel him into the room, but we have to start the process of taking him there now. If there are any personal belongings that are of value, I do recommend you taking them with you as a precaution,” asks Misha as he looks at both men equally. 

“I was going to be going down along with him anyway, Misha, even if you hadn’t suggested it. I wouldn’t have been able to relax if I didn’t go with him,” replies Jensen as he gets his phone and Jared’s and puts one in each of his front pockets. 

Misha chuckles at what Jensen tells him, shaking his head in amusement, these two never fail to crack him up. 

“I knew you were coming down with him, but it is hospital policy that I inform patients and their loves ones that it is an option, so if you’ll follow me, Jensen, while the two orderlies push the bed I would be grateful.”

“Ha ha, Misha, you think you’re so funny but you’re not,” replies Jared sarcastically which makes Misha laugh even louder as he escorts his friends from Jared’s hospital room to the elevator. 

Both Philip and Sean push Jared’s bed into the elevator first, and then Sean holds the door open for Misha and Jensen to step in, and once they clear the entrance to the elevator, Sean lets go and the door closes behind them. Philip hits the button for the second floor, two floors down from the one they’re currently on. The elevator doors open when they hit the second floor, and Sean and Philip let Doctor Collins and his friend exit the metal box first before they manoeuvre the patient out of the elevator, and as one they make a right turn to head for the biggest of the operating rooms. 

Philip wheels Jared inside the room and Sean helps him get the bed in place before they take their leave, signalling to Doctor Collins that they will be back later to move Jared to the recovery ward after his surgery. Misha ushers Jensen into the room to give him a few moments with Jared before the anaesthesiologist comes into to administer a powerful sleeping drug to put Jared under while Misha preforms the surgery. 

Misha moves away from the door, as he doesn’t want to listen in on their conversation, they both are nervous enough without him loitering outside the door trying to eavesdrop on what they’re saying. Misha leans against the wall on the side facing the double swing doors when he hears the whooshing sound as it opens, and spots Jensen looking around. He calls out quietly to let Jensen know where he is. 

Misha and Jensen are quietly talking to each other when the other members of the operating team show up, which is Misha’s cue to get ready for surgery, but before doing so he gets a nurse to show Jensen to the waiting room and let him know where the coffee and vending machines are in case he gets hungry while he waits. Jensen nods his head in thanks and follows the nurse to the room he must wait in. When he gets there he finds it empty, and he breathes a sigh of relief as he takes a seat, sprawls out, and tries to relax as best he can. At least he knows Jared’s in good hands because their friend Misha is an excellent orthopaedic surgeon, one of the best in his field, and there’s no one else that Jensen would want to perform the surgery on Jared. 

Inside the Operating Room

After taking his leave from Jensen, Misha heads to the sink to start his pre-surgery cleaning ritual, he scrubs his hands and along his arms as far as his elbows before drying them, and he turns to one of the nurses who puts on his gloves for operating. He leaves the preparation room and then enters the room where Jared is waiting for him.

“Jared, our anaesthesiologist is going to administer a sedative into your catheter, and then I want you to start counting back from ten for me,” informs Misha as he looks down at his friend and waits for him to respond before giving the go ahead.

“Okay Misha, let me know when to start counting,” replies Jared as he looks back up at Misha. 

“Start counting back from ten for me now, Jared,” answers Misha. 

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six….”

“He’s asleep, doctor, and his vitals are stable.”

 

“Okay gang let’s get this show on the road. Muireann, I need you on the right side of me for suction as I open up Jared’s arm. I have the X-rays on the machine over there to make sure that I do this operation correctly. I know that Jared loves being a fireman, so I am not going to be the one that destroys that part of him.”  
“Right away doctor, “replies Muireann as she moves to the doctor’s right side with the suction tool ready. 

As Muireann takes her place, Misha starts making an incision on Jared’s left arm, which is placed out wide to make it easier for Misha to operate. The blood flows freely from the incision as Misha stretches the skin out to find the areas he needs to attach the titanium plates, rods and bolts. Misha concentrates on the upper part of the arm first, he attaches the plate and the right amount of rods and bolts to secure it in place, before he moves to the lower half of the arm and repeats the procedure with a bigger plate and few extra rods and bolts. 

Muireann constantly suctions any excess blood while the operation is being performed, and Misha is able to stitch up the long incision. Once the arm is completely stitched, he moves the hand back and forth to make sure that it has full mobility. It wouldn’t do to find out something was wrong with Jared’s ability to move his arm after he wakes up from his surgery, so Misha always takes extra care when preforming any type of bone reconstruction. Jared will have a nice neat scar, but Misha is positive that Jared will be okay with that, and thankfully the elbow is intact and will function normally when he’s all healed and after physio.

Misha pulls off his mask after he finishes, heads back to the wash room to dispose of the soiled gloves, then he throws all the items into the yellow hazardous materials container. Philip and Sean come back inside to bring Jared to the recovery ward for observation, and for him to be with highly trained staff to bring him around after his surgery. While the two men carry out their job, Misha goes to find Jensen to fill him in on how the surgery went. 

Waiting Room

Jensen is pacing the room when Misha enters, a paper cup of coffee in his right hand as he paces back and forth in the same part of the room. Misha watches him for a few moments before he clears his throat, and is not surprised when Jensen swivels around on his feet and stares back at him, his eyes seem like they are trying to burrow inside Misha’s skull, as if it will tell him what he needs to hear. 

“Misha, how is he? Did the surgery go okay, were there any complications while he was under?” Jensen inquires as he looks at his friend directly in the face.

“Take a breath for me first, Jensen, and then I’ll fill you in on how Jared’s surgery went,” replies Misha and he literally waits until Jensen complies with his order and when he sees him carrying it out, he nods his head in thanks that Jensen followed his instructions. He didn’t want to have to tell Jared when he woke up that Jensen was being admitted because of hyperventilating and passing out cold on the floor, because that is a scenario Misha doesn’t want to live through.

“First of all, the surgery went smoothly, which I am very pleased about. I was able to fix the breaks in Jared’s arm. He has two separate titanium plates and corresponding rods to keep them in place, one in his upper arm and the in his lower arm. Luckily his elbow was completely intact, which will be of great benefit when he’s in recovery. At this moment he is being moved to the recovery ward where he’ll be monitored for the next few hours, just in case there any complications that I didn’t foresee, but I am confident that everything will be okay.” As he watches his friend’s shoulders slump as if the world’s struggles has been lifted from his shoulders.

“Thanks, Misha, for taking care of him and for doing the surgery, I know he wouldn’t have been comfortable with anyone else doing it. Do you know when I can go and see him?”  
“Not at the moment, I want to have him settled into the recovery ward well before I permit him any visitors, but it shouldn’t take too long, and that I know for certain. If you want to wait here until that time, you can, and I will have one of the nurses from that ward come and get you when it’s time. I am afraid that it won’t be Abby, she’s on the floor that Jared will be going back to once he’s recovered enough from his surgery.” 

“Okay, I can deal with waiting for a while down here. I have one more question for you. Do you know if there’s like a café or a cafeteria anywhere on this floor?”

“You and your coffee addiction, why am I not surprised that you’re asking about a place where you can get some coffee, “replies Misha as he rolls his eyes heavenward over his friend’s total love of the stuff.

Jensen guffaws at Misha as the man continues to look at him like he’s a coffee-addicted junkie.

“I’ll have you know, oh one who thinks he’s so wise and all knowing, that I am in fact going to get a bite to eat. I’ve had no food since yesterday, and that was before we found Jared,” answers Jensen as he glares at his friend with a scowl etched across his face. Of course this sets Misha off in fits of laughter, and he’s laughing so hard that he’s clutching his stomach trying to calm himself but every time he looks over at Jensen he starts all over again.

“You’re an asshat, you know that? I don’t know how we’re even friends,” replies Jensen even as he’s trying to stifle his own giggles. 

“Ah you don’t mean that,” responds Misha as he notices Jensen trying to contain his own laughter. That’s the last straw for Jensen then and he erupts in laughter, a real bone deep one that shakes his body, as he’s overcome from laughing too hard. Jensen’s infectious laughter sets Misha off as well, and soon the two of them are laughing so hard that tears begin to fall from their eyes. Jensen is the first one to take a huge gulp of air trying to stifle his laughter, and then he takes another because he did hear from watching a documentary-type show that you can actually die from laughing. Jensen nudges Misha to get him to stop, and luckily he follows suit, and the pair of them take deep breaths as their bodies slowly begin to calm down from their laughing fit.

“I have time to show you to café which I must say do excellent croissants and bagels, and some scones… well, I was told that’s what they were, anyway.”

“Thanks Misha,” replies Jensen as the two friends head off together in the direction of the café. 

It takes them about ten minutes to get to the place Misha was telling him about, and Jensen smiles brightly when the smell of freshly made coffee hits his nose, along with the smell of freshly baked goods. His mouth starts to salivate over the wonderful smell permeating through the air. He barely even glances at Misha as he says his goodbyes, telling him that he’ll see him later. Jensen is a man on a mission, and that mission is sustenance. 

Heading towards the counter, Jensen looks at the types of food on display, and he licks his lips in anticipation as a lot of the choices looks really appetising. First thing he does is order a regular coffee, black just as he likes it, and then he decides on a croissant and one of those scones Misha was talking about. The lady behind the counter puts the items on a tray and adds two small packets of butter and some strawberry jam, she explains to him that it’s for his scone, and Jensen smiles his thanks and pays for his purchases.  
He lifts his tray up off the counter, and heads to an empty table and chairs to sit down. He takes a sip of his coffee and moans at the taste as it explodes across his taste buds ‒ this brew is way better than the one at the fire and rescue base. Once he’s had that initial sip of coffee he starts on his croissant, relishing the soft fluffiness of it, and has it eaten in four bites. Next he tries the scone, he lifts it up and looks at it and checks to see if there’s any burnt patches, and is a happy camper when he finds none. 

Picking up his plastic knife, which he loathes due to the fact that they have a tendency to snap in half when you just put a tiny bit of force, he manages to cut the scone in half. He then picks up a packet of butter, the real kind which makes him happy and spreads it over the two halves of the scone, and finds he doesn’t have enough with one so he grabs the last one and uses that too. 

Once he has that done, he picks up the little container of strawberry jam and opens the little tinfoil lid before he sticks his knife in and takes a big enough amount out. He smothers it over the top half of the scone, and then goes back for more jam to do the lower half of the scone. He sets the knife back down, lifts up the smaller of the two halves, and takes a bite, and it quite pleased at the lovely texture and taste. He doesn’t even realise how quickly he eats the first half until he almost bites the top of his fingers. Rolling his eyes at himself, he picks up the second half and eats this one slower, as he wants to savour the taste more. As he eats, he takes sips of his coffee, relaxes back into the chair he’s sitting on, and rests for a few moments. 

Jensen eats the final piece of scone and drinks the last bit of his coffee before getting up and carrying his tray back to the counter. He thanks the staff for the lovely baked goods and heads off back towards the waiting room where he’s not surprised to see Jeff and Felicia waiting for him. He smiles at them warmly and opens his arms when Felicia comes over to him. He instantly wraps his arms around her and squishes her tight. She had been one of the first friends that they made here, so she holds a special place in both his and Jared’s hearts. He shakes Jeff’s hand once Felicia starts pulling back, and all three of them head to the plastic chairs and sit down. 

“Hey guys, thanks for being here. I thought you said it would be later, Jeff, when you said goodbye to us yesterday before you headed off,” asks Jensen as he looks across the small gap at the man. 

“Yeah, that was the plan, but someone was too impatient to wait that long,” explains Jeff as he looks at Felicia fondly.

“Well of course I couldn’t wait, I needed to come here today to see Jared with my own eyes. I know he’s probably just had surgery not too long ago so I wanted to be here for when he wakes up, if Jensen doesn’t mind, that is,” replies Felicia as she looks at both men.

“Of course I don’t mind, and neither would Jared, in fact I have a feeling he’ll be thrilled to see both of you, Felicia. I know Misha said that it would be a while yet before Jared can receive any visitors, as he’s still in the recovery ward, but he also said that Jared shouldn’t be too long down there before he gets moved back to his room if there’s no complications from the surgery. ”

“Well, since Jared is healthy, I agree with Misha on his thoughts about Jared not being down there too long, and with a bit of luck he’ll also be able to eat food. I think this will have been the longest I’ve known him that he went without food.”

“Oh, believe me I know, if Jared hasn’t woken up yet, I think his stomach will be awake before he is and we’ve all heard the noises that come from there when he’s extremely hungry,” chuckles Jensen as he looks at his two friends with a smile on his face. The three friends chat for a good while before a nurse comes into the waiting room. She smiles warmly at its occupants before indicating to Jensen to follow her, as Jared has woken up from his surgery and is asking for him. Jensen turns to his friends and they wave him off, telling him that it’s okay and that they’ll wait here until he comes back. Jensen smiles at them warmly before he turns to follow the nurse from the room.

It takes them only a few minutes to reach the recovery ward. The nurse asks Jensen to scrub his hands to make sure they’re thoroughly clean before entering the ward. Once he has done what she’s asked, she indicates the door beside them and she opens it up wide. He can see Jared sitting up on the bed looking at bit more at ease than he did yesterday. Jensen has a feeling that it could be morphine that’s giving Jared the slightly dopey look on his face, but Jensen wouldn’t change it for the world. 

“Hey Jay, how are you feeling?”

“Well, at the moment I feel quite good, but I have a feeling that’s the morphine that enters my blood stream at various intervals. One thing I do hope is that they’ll let me eat soon. I’m so hungry.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that, I even told Jeff and Felicia just now.”

“Oh, Felicia’s here, I’m looking forward to seeing them both later on. Did Misha tell you how long I have to stay in this ward, not that I have anything against the nurses down here, I just prefer the room I was in before? Some of the other patients down here have had more invasive surgery than I did. One guy had to get his right leg removed because he developed gangrene from not monitoring his diabetes and here I thought my injury was bad, Jen.”

“Felicia is looking forward to seeing you also. She explained that even though Jeff told her that you were doing okay, she had to see with her own eyes, and I told her that I understood and that you would also. Yeah, I saw Misha just after he finished operating on you, and he filled me on how your surgery went, and that if everything works out that he’d move you back to your room before the day is over. Do you want me to ask the nurse when you could have some food?”

“Of course I understand why Felicia had to see with her own eyes, silly girl. She’s one of our closest and dearest friends, so I am looking forward to seeing her and Jeff later on. Yeah, some food would be nice, babe, even if it’s only toast I am allowed to eat.”

“Okay Jay, I’ll just pop out and see if I can find a nurse, and then I’ll be right back.”

“Okay Jen, see you soon.”

Jensen slips back outside and looks around to see if can spot someone, and after a few quick glances both up and down the corridor, he spots a nurse heading towards him. He calls out to her and asks if Jared is allowed to have some food. She politely asks him to wait while she pages Doctor Collins to see if the fasting order has been lifted, and she comes back with good news, that Jared’s been cleared by Doctor Collins for light food. She informs him that she’ll send catering in with something in a few minutes. Jensen thanks her before he heads back into Jared, who is still awake even though the morphine should be making him sleepy by now, but he suspects that the minute Jared gets some food into his system that he’ll fall back to sleep. 

“I found a nurse who made a quick call to Misha, and he told her that it was okay for you to have something light, so it’ll be here shortly.”

“That’s good to know, I don’t mind what it is, as long as it’s not jello, because that stuff can be absolutely nasty.”

Jensen chuckles at Jared’s response, and just nods his head at him while he pulls over the chair near the bed to sit on it. He moves his hand, takes Jared’s in his, and relishes the feeling of warmth coming from him. He fills Jared in on his trip to the café, and laughs when Jared pouts at the mention of food, squeezing his hand softly as if to say you’ll get some food soon. They chat away for another few minutes when they both hear the door open and a nurse walks in with a tray, and Jared starts getting excited because she’s heading in his direction. 

She places the tray on the over-bed table, and informs Jared that his doctor said that if he could keep this down then he’d be moved upstairs before the afternoon is over. Jared nods his head and thanks her for the refreshments, Jensen helps him pull the table up towards him, and he lifts off the cover to find toast and some scrambled egg, which makes Jared giddy. 

Using his right hand, he lifts some of the eggs off the plate and guides it slowly to his mouth to make sure he doesn’t drop a single piece. When it finally passes his lips, he groans at the taste because they are just right, well mixed and fluffy. He looks over at Jensen as he takes a second forkful and notices Jensen buttering his bread and then adding some jam. Jared smiles at him and says thanks before he lifts the first butter and jam-covered slice to his mouth and he takes a bite. 

He can’t help but moan a little as the strawberry jam hits his taste buds, and he relishes the feel of the toast sliding down his throat. He finishes the first slice very quickly, and is already on the last one before he even knows it. Once he has finished all of the toast and the eggs, his stomach stops growling like a ravenous beast that’s never been fed, and then he drinks the cup of water to finish off his meal. Jared lies back against his pillows as he begins to get sleepier, and soon drifts off, which causes him to miss the adoring look on Jensen’s face when his eyes slipped closed. As Jared sleeps, he misses the day nurse coming in who takes Jared’s empty tray after looking at his chart, and adds a note saying that the patient has eaten his meal and has had no complications, so she makes another note that he’s okay to be transferred back to his room in the next two hours. 

During the next hour Misha is making his rounds. He comes into the recovery ward to check on Jared, heads to his chart to see the updated notes, and is pleased to see that Jared has eaten the meal that was given to him with no complications arising from it. He also sees the head nurse’s notations that Jared has passed all of his tests, and is waiting for the transfer back to his own room to be approved. 

This has Misha smiling, so he looks up at Jensen to give him the good news, but he waits as he notices Jensen leaning in and whispering to Jared, telling him to rest and that soon he’d be back in his own room and able to meet his friends. Misha gives Jensen a few moments before clearing his throat to let Jensen know that he needs to talk to him. Jensen lifts his head from where it’s positioned near his boyfriend’s head, and moves away from the side of the bed to stand next to Misha. 

“Hey Misha, is everything okay?” asks Jensen as he looks at his friend worryingly. 

“Everything is perfectly fine, I just checked his chart, and the head nurse has added a note inside saying that from all of Jared’s tests that we carried out previously, and the one this morning in his ability to finish a meal, had no complications. So I’ll start the process for him to be transferred to his room upstairs in the next hour. We can do it while he sleeps, so when he wakes up he’ll be back in a room he’s slightly more comfortable in. Is that okay with you?” He looks at Jensen taking all the information in. A bright smile appears on Jensen’s face as his brain finally takes in the information overload, and he gives Misha a quick hug and looks back at Jared who is still sleeping soundly.  
“How will you move him without waking him up?” asks Jensen with a hint of curiosity laced in his voice.

“I am going to get Philip and Sean again to move him, they’ve proven invaluable before when sliding patients from one bed to another without waking them up,” replies Misha. “Especially when the patient needs to sleep as part of the healing process, which is exactly what Jared’s body is doing now. Have I covered everything, or is there anything else you might not be aware of, Jensen? I am here to answer any questions you may have.” 

“No, that’s the most pressing one that I needed to know the answer on. Jared needs to sleep properly for a while so he can start to regain his strength, because I know that he’ll start to feel restless the longer he’s not working,” declares Jensen. “I’m going to make damn sure that he follows all of your instructions, Misha, I guarantee that,” as he still looks fondly over at Jared. 

“Oh, believe me I know how bad he can get, we’ve known each other a long time. But I also know that you’ll make sure he follows mine and the physio’s instructions he’ll be assigned to the letter. I’m going to page Philip and Sean now to start Jared’s transfer back to his room. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay, Jensen?”

“Sure Misha, see you in a few,” replies Jensen as he watches his friend take leave to contact the two men from earlier in the morning. Jensen keeps himself occupied by looking at Jared’s bandaged arm, and how it’s held close to his chest with a sling. At least now Jared can start on the road to recovery. The operation was the first major hurdle, and thankfully that is now over and the healing process has begun, which will take the longest. Well, that’s what Jensen thinks, anyway.

Misha, Philip and Sean all enter the room almost ten minutes later, with the two orderlies pushing in Jared’s original bed from his room. Jensen watches as the three men efficiently transfer Jared from his current bed to the new one in two minutes, and Jensen watches in amazement as Jared never even wakes up as he’s being moved. He follows the two men and Misha out of the ward, and all four of them head for the elevator with Jared still sleeping soundly. Misha is pushing Jared’s intravenous pain relief system alongside the portable bed so it doesn’t pull the catheter from his arm. 

The journey back to Jared’s room doesn’t take as long as leaving did that morning. Jensen suspects it’s because he’s not worrying about Jared going under the scalpel anymore. As they make their way back out of the elevator, Jensen sends a quick text to Jeff to tell them that Jared’s being moved back to his original room if they wanted to head up there. Jeff replies back almost instantly saying, “See you in a few.” 

Inside Jared’s Room

Jensen smiles then, and looks back up from his phone just in time to notice that they’re almost at Jared’s private room, and he exhales slowly when they cross the threshold. Philip and Sean manoeuvre Jared’s bed into position before locking the wheels in place. They bid farewell to Jensen and Misha, and Misha thanks both of them for their help. They wave him off, saying they’re just doing their jobs, but Misha still thanks them anyway, causing the two men to roll their eyes upward with a mild affection in their gaze. Misha bids farewell a short time after the other two men leave, telling Jensen that he’ll call back this evening before his shift ends to say goodbye to Jared. Jensen thanks him again for taking good care of Jared when he was under the knife, so to speak. 

After a few minutes, the door opens once more as Jeff and Felicia enter the room. Felicia instantly looks in Jared’s direction, notices the normal complexion on his face, and breathes easy before she moves further into the room. She gives Jensen a quick hug, heads for the chair near the bed, sits down and starts talking to Jared in a whispering tone just to occupy herself until he wakes up. Both Jensen and Jeff watch her with a fond look on each of their faces as they listen to her quietly telling Jared what’s been happening since yesterday morning that hasn’t anything to do with the fire or of Jared getting hurt. As she chats away quietly, she doesn’t notice right away that Jared is beginning to wake up, and it only dawns on her when she hears something and looks up to see Jared smiling at her with deep affection.

“Hey sweetie, it’s so good to see you. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you since Jensen told me that both you and Jeff were here,” says Jared as he looks at one of his best friends.

“Jared,” exclaims Felicia as she leaps off the chair and hugs him hard but is still mindful of his arm where it rests in its sling. 

“I am so glad to see you. I have been worried since yesterday morning when your radio cut out while talking to Jeff. My mind was running through a multitude of scenarios at what could have happened to you when we got the radio call from Chris yesterday evening telling us that they had found you. I had to leave my desk and go to the bathroom because I didn’t want Jensen to see me crying, because he could have taken it the wrong way,” replies Felicia as she looks at her buddy. 

“Oh sweetie, you didn’t have to do that. I would have understood why you were so emotional. You’ve been our friend since the very first week we moved here, when Jared accidentally knocked you over when he was walking down the main street because he was too busy looking at everything else instead of what was in front of him,” Jensen responds to Felicia’s heartfelt emotion at the end of her telling Jared about yesterday. Both Jensen and Jeff have moved closer to the bed while Felicia was explaining yesterday’s events through her own eyes. 

Felicia startles when she hears Jensen voice so close to her, as she never even heard him move, or Jeff for that matter. She snorts at herself, and smiles at Jensen as a way to say thanks. She watches him smile back at her, sees his hand move to her shoulder, and feels him give it a gentle squeeze. It only takes a few moments for her to remember the last part of what Jensen was telling her, and she bursts out laughing.

“Oh my God, I remember that day as if it happened just a week ago. It was like being struck down by a concrete wall, and hitting the floor like a sack of spuds. Of course then Jared was all apologetic, and making those damn puppy eyes at me because he was so upset that I might have gotten hurt bad, so I couldn’t even stay mad at him.” Felicia laughs as she sees Jared doing the exact same thing he did that day, and it makes her laugh even more. 

“Felicia, you know that I didn’t mean to knock you over,” chuckles Jared as he looks at her more forlornly, hoping that she takes pity on him. He chuckles even more when she just swats his good arm and calls him an idiot as a huge grin appears on her own face. Jensen and Jeff start chuckling too at the light hearted banter between the two friends. Felicia and Jeff spend almost three hours visiting with Jensen and Jared before they head away, and they pass Chris, Chad, and Danneel on the way into see their friends, since their shift ended about twenty minutes ago. Felicia and Jeff start to make their way back to the fire house base to pass on the news about Jared’s well-being to the rest of the squad.


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue

Jared

It’s been a long six months of gruelling physio workouts and check-up appointments at the hospital to get back the normal strength his left arm had before Jared is finally given the all-clear to go back to work. He made a more speedy recovery than even Misha thought he would, but he wasn’t surprised either, because Jared was anxious about getting back to work since Jeff had told him that both Misha and the physio therapist had to jointly agree before he could, and today was that day. During his rehabilitation time, he had to go out and buy another truck. He bought a Ford F150 in the colour that drew him to it, metallic sky blue.

Jared isn’t even surprised that just as he is coming to end of his shift, the alarm went off which made him run for the truck and get suited and booted in seconds. He pulls out his phone to send Jensen a text that he’ll be late home for dinner, as a call out has just come in. He gets a text back telling him to be safe, and that he’ll see him when he gets back home. Jared smiles for a moment before getting his head back in the game, and he’s sitting inside the fire truck before Chris and Chad can even blink.

He is patted on the back as a welcome by Danneel, Kim, Steve, Briana, and Aldis who makes up his full team as the truck drives along the Coastal road that nearly five months ago changed his life forever, towards a two-story office electrical fire which started in the canteen, according to the information that is coming in from a witness who was inside the building but has since evacuated the premises on the building’s fire officer’s insistence.

With Chad behind the wheel and the sirens blaring, they reach the building within ten minutes. All of them jump out of the truck, head to their equipment, and start pulling out hoses to connect them to their source of CO2, as that is the only way to put out an electrical fire, but they’ll have to be careful of the fire restarting. The seven of them make up two teams, each team comprised of four people. Jeff always prefers safety in numbers, hence why each team always has four members, and there was never any exception to his rule. Jeff is on scene too as Chief Commander to co-ordinate his other units to do sweeps of neighbouring buildings to make sure they are completely evacuated. All teams move out and head to their assigned areas. Jared, Danneel, Chad, and Aldis are assigned the second floor, so each of them head up, carrying their equipment but keeping their eyes open for weakened floor boards or ceiling sections.

Jared and Danneel are ahead of Aldis and Chad when they hear a sound coming from the left side of the corridor and all four of them head in that direction to investigate, and are surprised when they find a young woman who’s barely conscious but is breathing, having managed to kick out at the filling cabinet near her feet. They had been told that the whole building had already been evacuated, so Jared gets on his radio to call it in. Jared speaks clearly and precisely into his shoulder radio that they’ve found a young woman in one of the rooms along the corridor and that she’s breathing, she got their attention by making some noise.

He lets Jeff know that she will need to be seen by their EMT personnel when they get her down from here. Jared is the one who makes the decision to lift her and carry her out, he tells Dani and Chad to make sure that the other rooms on this floor are clear before they take their leave of this building. He waits in this room with the young woman and Aldis, who has put his extra air mask over the girl’s nose and mouth, which will give her the much-needed clean oxygen that her body has been craving since she got stuck up here. As soon as Dani and Chad have cleared the rest of the hallway and adjacent rooms, they re-trace their steps and meet Jared, Aldis, and the young woman in the room they found her in.

Aldis and Jared discuss between themselves which one of them should lift her, and after a few moments Jared is the chosen person, so he reaches down and lifts the woman up into a fireman’s carry by hoisting her over his right shoulder, and he waits for Dani to take the lead while he follows next, with Chad and Aldis finishing off the line. All five of them head for the stairs they came up a short while ago, but soon discover that the fire is now encroaching on that exit route, so they change tactics and head for the furthest room on the right hand side of the hallway. Aldis radios down to inform them that they need a window extraction, which room they’ve headed to, and that they need the ladder to the biggest window soon.

Aldis gets a confirmation and an affirmative from Jeff, and he lets them know that Mike and Tom are moving to that location with Rob and Richard in the truck, and that they will radio him when they are in position for the rescue manoeuvre to be carried out. Aldis replies with a few words confirming to Jeff that he’ll listen out for a radio call from the other unit. Passing on the information to his fellow team members, they make their way safely but quickly to the room that Dani and Chad had already cleared earlier. Upon entering the room, the first thing Chad and Dani take care of is the window. Dani takes out a small hammer and breaks the pane of glass, and carefully clears away any smaller pieces from the frame so none of them will be hurt getting out.

They are not waiting too long before Aldis’s radio crackles to life and Tom’s voice comes through the speaker, telling them to move to the window now as the ladder has been deployed and ready for the casualty. Jared makes his way to the window first when Tom’s voice lets them know that he’s making his way up the ladder and for them to have the casualty ready. Leaning out through the freshly broken window, he sees Tom reach the top of the ladder. He very carefully passes over the young woman and waits until Tom has carried her down to safety and onto the ambulance’s gurney to be checked out. He can see that’s she put on more oxygen, and he knows then she’s in very capable hands, so he heads down the ladder and is quickly followed by Chad, Dani, and then Aldis.

By the time all four of them have made it safely out of the building, the other units from their company have gotten the fire under control. It is now manageable enough that Jeff sends Jared’s team home, along with Chris’s team. Nobody says anything since Jeff has that “I’m the boss so do as you’re told” look on his face. Jared smiles his thanks at Jeff and heads back to the truck, all of them climbing back inside the truck with Chad at the wheel.

Fifteen minutes later they reach the base, and Chad reverses the truck through the bay doors and turns off the engine and lets it cool down. The truck is restocked and then washed down before everyone heads towards their vehicles to head home. Jared takes out his phone and sends Jensen another text to let him know he’s on the way back home now. Jared whistles to the music coming from his car radio as he drives back along the coastal road to his boyfriend.

Jensen

Jensen is just leaving the bathroom after his shower when he hears his phone beep, and he knows a text has come through. He picks it up, swiping the screen to activate it and open the message, and sees that it’s from Jared letting him know he’ll be home later than usual since they got a late call out just at the end of his shift. He fires back a quick text telling Jared to be careful and that he’ll see him when he gets home. He pulls the towel that’s currently wrapped around his waist off and dries his body with it before running it over his head, then throws it in the direction of the laundry hamper that’s just inside the door of their huge bathroom.

He puts on his jeans and his soft blue Henley, and he heads downstairs to start preparations for dinner. He thinks steak, fries and some roasted root veggies will do nicely. Heading to the fridge he pulls out two big enough sized steaks and seasons them lightly, as he’ll add more as he cooks them on the grill. Next he pulls out the veggies, some carrots, zucchinis and dill peppers, choosing the baby ones as they are sweeter on the palette.

He’s going to leave the fries in the freezer for a while, as they take the shortest amount of time to cook even if they’re frozen. He’ll put them in the oven when he has the veggies ready to be put in there too. He takes the carrots over to the counter and pulls out a peeler, a sharp knife and a chopping board. He has four carrots total, and he peels and chops them quickly before putting them in water to soak. Next, he tackles the zucchinis, he only has two of them, so he just chops them in equal sizes, places them on an oven tray, drizzles some oil over them and places the tray to the side. The baby dill peppers are always so finicky, so he takes his time on each one and he has six in total, three green and three yellow ones.

Cutting each pepper in half first, he heads back to the knife rack and picks out a smaller blade to complete the task he’s about to start. He chops all the peppers in half, and then uses the smaller knife to cut away the seeds before he washes them and places them in the tray with the zucchinis. He gets the carrots then and adds them to the tray too, before turning to the oven and placing them on the top shelf. He moves back to the freezer now, grabs the frozen fries, and gets another tray out of the cupboard, and scatters a good portion of them on the tray. He places them on the second shelf in the oven, setting the timer as he closes the oven door.

While they are cooking, he gets the steaks and places them on the grill on a low heat, watches them cook for a few moments before he checks on the roasting veg, turns them so they cook evenly, and does the same to the fries. As he’s heading back to the girdle his phone alerts him to a text coming through. He moves to the table and picks it up and sees that the text is from Jared saying that he should be home in around twenty minutes, and Jensen grins because the food will be just done by then. He didn’t even realise that he was whistling until he heard himself; he giggled quietly and continued doing it.

Jensen watches the steaks and turns them once before taking them off and setting them aside on a warm plate to keep them hot. The oven dings as it announces that the contents should be now ready for eating, and grabbing the oven gloves, he pulls out the vegetable tray, then the fries, and brings both trays to the counter. Moving back to the cupboard, he pulls out two dinner plates and brings them over to where he has the food waiting. He lifts the steaks one by one and places them on a plate each, and then dishes out equal amounts of veggies and fries. He’s just placing them on the table when he hears the front door open and close, which lets him know that Jared’s home.

  
He leaves the kitchen to meet Jared and smiles when he sees him. Moving closer to him, Jensen reaches up and pulls Jared’s face towards him and kisses those soft lips, swiping his tongue along the seam asking for entrance, which is given, and he moves his tongue alongside Jared’s as their kiss deepens and one of them moans. Jensen pulls back before he starts stripping Jared out of his clothes, even though it pains him to do so. He hears Jared whimpering softly at the loss of touch, which makes him take Jared’s hand in his. He pulls him along to the kitchen where he has dinner all ready to go. Jared’s about to protest, since he still has the smell of smoke lingering on his skin, but Jensen quietly tells him that a shower can wait that that smell is from him doing his job and helping those who can’t help themselves.

Jared

Entering the kitchen, the heavenly smell hits Jared’s nose. He moans in appreciation as the glorious smell assaults him, and he spots the wonderful looking food on the table that is in the small eating area they have in their kitchen.

“This looks great Jen, I can’t wait to taste it.”

“I wanted to cook you dinner, since this your first day back at work since you hurt your arm and had surgery,” replies Jensen as he looks lovingly at Jared, who smiles back at him before picking up his fork and knife and digging in.

The two of them eat their food with gusto, but also savouring each bite they take, and Jared can’t help but moan loudly at the taste of the expertly cooked steak on his plate, and his veg are just perfect. He’s not a fan of carrots usually, but he has to admit that he likes it when they’re roasted and the other veg is helping, and he finds his plate cleared before too long. He sets his knife and fork down on top of his plate and pushes it away slightly. He leans back in his chair and runs a hand over his stomach in happiness as he watches Jensen finish off the rest of his own dinner, and it’s the quick smile Jensen gives him that has Jared forming an idea in his head.

For the past six months as he’s been recovering, he has noticed that Jensen was afraid to do anything more than cuddle and kiss and give the occasional blowjob, which Jared never turned down and always reciprocated, but if Jared is honest with himself, he misses being more intimate with Jensen, the feel of their skin moving against each other as they make love for hours on end. So he starts to formulate a plan in his head while he sits at the table and waits for Jensen to be done with his dinner.

Jared hears the distinct sound of Jensen’s cutlery hitting the plate, signalling that he is finished, and Jared smiles brightly because now he can set his plan in motion. He picks his plate up and grabs Jensen’s one as he passes by him, deliberately brushing his fingers along the side of Jensen’s neck and feeling him shiver at the light touch. He continues on his journey to the sink to wash the dishes, feeling Jensen’s eyes on him as he goes, and he grins knowing that he has Jensen intrigued as to what that was all about. Jared places the dirty dishes on to the countertop as he waits for the sink to fill up with warm, sudsy water. Once it’s high enough, he gently places the two plates in first, followed by the cutlery. He picks up a wash brush and cleans the knives first as they are sharp, and then the forks before he moves on to the plates. He has one washed and on the draining board when he feels strong arms wrap around his waist from behind, the heat from Jensen’s chest soaks through his t-shirt as the man holds him close. He washes the second plate then and leaves it to drip dry before he turns in Jensen’s arms and leans down to kiss those bee-stung lips that seem to be begging him to plunder and conquer.

Their kiss quickly heats up. The passion rises between them when Jared starts moving Jensen back towards the centre island, and as soon as Jensen bumps into it, Jared reaches down and lifts him off the ground before placing him on the counter. Jensen gasps into the kiss, but never breaks contact with Jared’s lips as he wraps his legs around Jared to pull him closer, longing to feel him next to him. Over the last few months he felt like he needed to let Jared heal properly, since the surgery was a big deal, but he longs for Jared like a hurricane who needs moisture to feed it. Jensen moans when Jared starts to slide his lips down along his throat, nipping at his skin then soothing it with kitten licks.

“Jay, God, I need more, please,” whimpers Jensen as intense feelings of pleasure skirt along his nerves in never-ending loops.

“Okay baby, I’ll give you more, but hold on,” replies Jared as he lifts his boyfriend off the counter and heads in the direction of their en-suite bathroom.

Jensen

Jensen yelps as he’s lifted off the counter, and has to tighten his grip on the man holding him, but pays him back by kissing along Jared’s neck, soft brushes of his lips against that tantalising column of flesh. He slows down his tormenting of Jared’s neck when they reach the stairs, as he doesn’t want to cause Jared to trip and fall, because that would be a major downer as both of them are getting each other so riled up.

Jensen feels Jared come to a stop and start to lessen his grip on Jensen, so he helps him by loosening his legs from around Jared’s waist, and he feels himself being lowered to the ground. He plants his feet back on solid ground and looks up into Jared’s face, and smiles at the love shining intensely from those kind hazel-green eyes, and he knows that his own are showing the exact same emotion. They look into each other’s eyes for what feels like eons, but in retrospect only a couple of seconds before Jensen lifts his hands and starts to lift Jared’s t-shirt up along his finely sculptured chest, stopping when he reaches his shoulders as he leans in and kisses the exposed flesh before he concentrates on Jared’s nipples. He sucks one into his mouth and lavishes with attention before he does the same to the other one.

He feels Jared’s breathing start to quicken as he continuously lavishes attention on his skin. Then as he moves the t-shirt the rest of the way off, smashes his lips to Jared’s, and ravishes his mouth. Jensen kisses him so intensely that Jared has to break the kiss and move away a small bit to pull in a lungful of air to keep breathing. Jensen starts moving back down along Jared’s chest, kissing as he goes, until he reaches his waist, nimble fingers make quick work on the button and zipper, the sound of it being opened is punctuated in quietness of the room.

Jensen tugs the jeans and Jared’s boxers down his long legs until Jared has to lift one leg at a time to let Jensen take them off completely. Jensen moves his head and slowly looks up along those muscular thighs to the prize in between Jared’s legs, which is fully erect and leaking at the tip. He instantly kneels up straighter, sticks out his tongue, licks the end of Jared’s cock, and moans softly as he relishes the salty taste as it slides down along his throat. Just as he’s about to take more of the hard cock in front of him into his mouth, he feels Jared tug on his shoulders, and gasps when he sees the look in Jared’s eyes. Jared’s looking at him with such intensity that it causes Jensen to shiver involuntarily as he’s held captive by just the way Jared is looking at him.

“Jen, any other time I would gladly let you suck me off, but not tonight, okay? I need you so much. But before we get really into it, I want you to come have a shower with me,” asks Jared as he looks at Jensen with a fierce longing burning through his soul.

“Oh God, yeah, we can do that,” moans Jensen, as the image of Jared with rivulets of water travelling down along his skin as the water hits his flesh has Jensen salivating.  
Jensen gets up from kneeling on the floor and lets Jared pull him along towards the shower. He stands inside the bathroom as he watches Jared open the shower up and turn on the water. Jensen instantly hears the water start to fall as it hits the tiled floor with a rhythmic sound. When Jared turns back around to face him, Jensen sees the predatory look in Jared’s eyes and he watches as Jared walks back over to stand right in front of him.

He watches avidly as Jared moves his hands to the hemline of Jensen’s Henley and feels him start to pull it up along his body, raising his hands automatically as the top reaches his upper body, and he hears Jared murmur appreciatively as his own chest is revealed to the man’s eyes. He just about sees Jared toss the top over to the side before his fingers land on the waistband of his jeans. He feels them slide softly along the soft flesh of his belly before coming to a stop at the button fly that is keeping his jeans closed. Agile fingers caress his skin as they move to slowly open each button deftly and confidently. Jensen feels them being pulled down along his thighs, and has to get his feet to work to help Jared take them the rest of the way off. When he hears Jared moan loudly, he has to open his eyes ‒ he never knew they had even closed ‒ to look at his boyfriend, who is looking down at his hands and Jensen spots what has his attention so riveted, but before he manages to say anything Jared beats him to it.

“Jesus Jen, do you have any idea what knowing you went commando does to me? If I had known this downstairs when you were sitting across from me, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off you. I would have spread you out on the table and ravished you there.” Jared moans as he looks back up to look into Jensen’s eyes, and sees him swallow quickly as his breathing quickens.

“From the way you are looking at me now, I believe that you would have, Jay, but I knew that if you found out that I was naked under my jeans, you would have missed out on dinner, and you needed to eat, as you’ve had a busy first day back at work.”

Jared

Jared chuckles at Jensen’s sincere reply, and pulls him in to kiss the living daylights out of him. As he kisses those delectable soft lips, he starts to move Jensen backwards to the open shower door. He carefully manoeuvres them both through the door, and uses his left hand to reach blindly back to close the door behind them, and the heat of the falling water encloses around them and bathes them in warmth. Jared nudges Jensen lightly to get him to move under the spray, and then follows him, their lips still joined even as the water hits their skin like tiny pinpricks as it washes away the day’s worries.

Hands start to roam along each other’s naked flesh, drawing moans and whimpers from both of their mouths as the passion between them soars higher and higher. Jared pulls back as his lungs start to burn from the lack of oxygen, and takes a huge gulp of air, and he notices Jensen doing the same. As both of them start to breathe regularly again, Jared reaches for the shower gel and the sponge, quickly he squirts a good amount of Palmolive Aroma scents and works it under the water for a few seconds to form a lather. Jared places the bottle back on the shelf beside him, and then he turns his attention on Jensen and starts to run the sponge along his chest and shoulders before kneeling down and washing his lower legs and thighs, followed quite quickly by running the sponge over and around Jensen’s hard cock, eliciting whimpers and moans from him. Jared moves around Jensen then and starts to gently wash his strong back, the musculature flexing as he rubs the sponge over the freckled skin before turning his attention to the nicely toned ass right in front of him. He starts caressing the round globes of flesh with the wet sponge and the tips of his fingers, moving the sponge closer to the valley in between the cheeks, making sure to run the tips of his fingers along the freshly cleaned crevice, stopping for a few moments on the furled entrance. Jared gently massages the area, and smiles wolfishly as he listens to the whimpers and pleas that are continuously falling from Jensen’s lips.

Once Jared has Jensen all sudsy, he runs the sponge over his own body to get rid of the smell of smouldering ash off his skin. He slows down when he reaches his own cock as he notices Jensen watching him, his pupils wide with lust, so Jared throws the sponge to the side. Not being able to wait any longer, he gently pushes Jensen under the hot water and watches as it washes all the suds off the freckled covered body in front of him, and then turns them around until he’s under the water, letting it wash away all the stresses of the day.

As the last of the bubbles are washed off Jensen’s skin and his own, Jared moves back to him and pushes him up against the wall and kisses him intensely, sucking on the moisture collecting on those bee stung lips, before quickly soothing the hurt away with soft licks from his tongue. Jared can’t help but whimper as Jensen starts moving his body closer to him and trying to get Jared to touch him further down.

Jared laughs as Jensen attempts to move him without making him move, so Jared takes matters into his own hands by turning Jensen around to face the wall before dropping to his knees. He slides his hands up the back of Jensen legs, giving the two perky cheeks a squeeze before he uses his thumbs to separate the firm flesh. Moving closer, Jared licks a broad strip from the base of Jensen’s back and down to his hole, where he kitten licks at his entrance. He holds onto Jensen as he feels him shiver when he makes contact.  
Jared starts to use his tongue with more purpose around the rim, pointing the end to ease through the opening before licking around the entrance again. He repeats the action until he feels Jensen starting to sway on his feet and he stands up, keeping a strong grip on the man so he doesn’t fall sideways. He starts to move them out of the shower after he turns it off. Grabbing two big fluffy towels, he dries Jensen’s body first and then his own before he tosses both towels towards the laundry hamper, not caring in the slightest if they make it into it or not.

“Jen, let’s move to our bed. I don’t want you falling and getting hurt,” asks Jared as he still continues to hold Jensen in his arms.

“Okay, Jay, and how did you honestly expect me to not sway on my feet after that never-ending torturous pleasure you were giving me,” replies Jensen as he looks up at Jared with a grin on his face.

Jared smiles back at him before scooping Jensen up in his arms like a maiden and walks out of the bathroom. All Jensen can do is yelp out loud at the sudden change for him, and he rolls his eyes at his boyfriend, knowing that when he gets like this there’s no stopping him, but he will never admit out loud that he secretly loves the fact that Jared can manhandle him like this. Jared comes to a stop by their bed and he drops Jensen onto it, who bounces as he lands and has to hold on so he doesn’t fall off the other side. He glares at Jared for that little stunt, but the man is already climbing onto the bed after him. The look in his eyes has all rational thought leaving Jensen’s mind, and he moves further into the centre of the bed, his legs falling open even without him realising they’re doing it.

Jared crawls up the bed after Jensen, moving in between those strong legs, before he lowers his body onto Jensen’s beneath him and kisses him with frenzied passion. He blindly reaches out towards the bedside locker, rummages around inside the drawer to find the lube, and smirks when he does so. Once he has the tube in his hands, he pulls back slowly off Jensen and flicks open the tube before coating the fingers of his right hand generously. He tosses the tube on the bed beside them before he turns his attention back onto the man laid out in front of him like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Jared starts rubbing his lubed fingers along Jensen’s rim before he slowly slides the first digit in, feeling the muscles clamp down on his finger immediately. To distract Jensen from the pain of the slight intrusion, he uses his left hand to stroke his cock, and as he feels Jensen start to relax he pushes his finger in more, and another bit, until it’s completely encased in the warm heat. He moves it in and out a few more times before he slips in another finger, and he waits once more for Jensen to get used to the new added pressure of his two fingers before he starts scissoring them to open Jensen up further.

It isn’t long before Jensen starts pushing back against his fingers in a constant rhythm, and writhing on the bed as his body is racked with the pleasure trailing along his nerve endings. Jared adds a third finger then to his other two, and Jensen moans loudly as his body adjusts to the third digit, but he doesn’t tell Jared to stop, he just continues to writhe as the pleasure intensifies.

“Jay, I need you inside me now, please,” begs Jensen as his body is assaulted by the intense pleasure he’s feeling where Jared’s fingers are inside and moving on his cock in a slow up and down motion.

“Okay, Jen, don’t worry. I’ll get you there,” replies Jared as he watches Jensen with such love.

Jared sits back up and looks around for the lube, grabs it with his left hand, and is just about to squirt some more on his fingers, but Jensen stops him, takes the tube from him, and pours it on his own fingers before throwing the tube off the side of the bed. He reaches down and circles his hand around Jared’s cock as he moves his hand up and down, spreading the lube all over it, making sure every part of it is liberally coated before he pulls back and wipes his hand on the bedlinen. Jared moans as Jensen finishes coating his dick, and has to bite the inside of his own cheek to stop himself from coming too early. He watches Jensen as he settles back on the bed, waiting for him, and Jared is not in the habit of making Jensen wait too long. He positions himself properly once more in between his legs and moves his cock until it nudges against Jensen’s opening.

He pushes against the furled entrance until he feels it give to let him in. Slowly he pushes in a bit more, and stops when the muscles inside Jensen squeeze him tightly. Taking a deep breath, Jared hold his position as Jensen gets used to the feeling. When Jared feels his body relax enough, he moves in a bit more, stopping every so often for Jensen to adjust, until he’s fully inside. His cock surrounded by the warmth of Jensen’s inner muscles, he has to take another deep breath so he doesn’t come this very second at the feelings overtaking his own body. He pulls back slowly and then pushes back in to test how Jensen is feeling, and is encouraged when Jensen’s legs come up and wrap around his waist to urge him on.

Jared picks up the pace of his thrusts then and looks for that bundle of nerves that will set Jensen alight and he knows instantly when he’s found it as Jensen cries out with ecstasy and pushes down for more. Knowing he’s hitting the spot now, Jared focuses his attention on Jensen’s prostate, making his boyfriend moan continuously as his body is overwhelmed by the sensation of Jared inside him. Jared hits the spot one last time, and Jensen can’t hold back his orgasm anymore, it shoots from his cock, hitting his hit stomach, chest, and Jared’s chest. He falls back onto the bed and watches as Jared thrusts a few more times before coming inside him, the warmth of his release shooting down along his inner channel.

Jared’s release takes a huge toll on him, and he has to watch his body as it falls down onto Jensen, who is still underneath him and wrapped around his softening cock. A few moments pass until Jared is able to slide his cock out and roll to the left side of Jensen, both of them breathing hard like they just finished running a marathon, and with the energy they’ve just used it could be counted as a great workout. Lying there, Jared turns his head towards Jensen and sees that his eyes are closed, but he can tell from the way he’s breathing that he’s not asleep but resting.

He, too, needs to take deep breaths to calm down his racing heart, and it’s as if Jensen can feel he’s being watched as he turns his head in Jared’s direction, opens his eyes, and looks over at him with a satisfied look on his face. Jared leans over and kisses Jensen softly in thanks for letting them get lost in the pleasure of each other.

Once Jared has regained enough of his motor functions, he gets up off the bed and heads for the bathroom. He grabs a damp cloth to clean them both down with, he uses it on himself first as he walks back towards the bed before he uses it on Jensen, making sure to wipe away any remaining traces of the lube they’d used, and then cleans up Jensen’s release off his belly and chest before firing the cloth behind him.

He manoeuvres Jensen to get him under the blankets and get warm, and smiles in amusement as he sees him burrow under them like he’s a rabbit, but he joins him then and finds himself doing the same thing. Reaching out, he pulls Jensen to him and wraps his arm around him as they settle in for the night. Just as he’s drifting off to sleep, he hears Jensen whisper to him in a quiet sleep voice.

“Love you, Jay. See you in the morning.”

“Love you, too, Jen, sleep well,” replies Jared as they both drift off to the land of dreams while cocooned in each other’s arms.

The End

BONUS ARTWORK

 

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank everyone who has left kudos or left comments telling me they liked my story. Sorry I haven't mentioned this yet.


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